Dark Hunter's resolution
by xisinj64
Summary: Fourth in series: Into the Darkness; Redemption of the Dark Kind; Dark Hunter, Dark saviour With the war's end near, the fighting intensifies, and bonds are broken or strengthened. In these dark times, Alex will do whatever it takes to stop war for good.
1. Chapter 1

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 1: Rogue agent, reminisce.**

**2nd July 2901**

**Vra'nam system, planet Kuhalra, Nal'harran city, central sporting complex.**

The rumbling of the swarms of Kro'nogri and Leg'hrul exiting and entering the main arena echoed across the complex plaza, mixing the sounds of voices of excitement and disappointment at the outcome of each sport game with the sound of the city's traffic.

Ascending up the side of the largest arena were many elevators, glass capsules ascending the large, 100 metre tall complex with a spectacular, panoramic view of the cityscape. Inside one elevator, a few significant individuals stood. Their identity allowed them access to the city, with little hassle from security. Inside, Sha'krii Herensk gazed out at Nal'harran city, admiring the rather dated but functional Kro'nogri architecture. Beside her, La'kias and Kirth stood rather passively, apparently disinterested in the sight before them. 2 cloaked figures, hiding their faces with bodyguard outfits, looked to be Kro'nogri, but beneath their masks the two human clones stood by. Despite this being an NKI controlled city, it helped to disguise Xale and Lexa in what appeared to be Kro'nogri body guard outfits.

Sha'krii and Kirth had jointly decided on La'kias, Xale and Lexa, mainly due to the others being unsuited to the task, or being busy. Norstith, Morthas, Ja'hail, Se'rie, Alex, Aru'san and Azula were busy, leaving Shockwave and Raxler to act as backup to them on this operation if it went wrong. The Cybertronian mech and AI until would be disguised appropriately, and would monitor them, intervening if things got too dangerous.

The guard outfits built in DNA signals, masking the human signatures that Xale and Lexa emitted. To the scanners, they would appear as Kro'nogri. Though this was an NKI controlled world, caution was a priority, as every non-UIP human known was a well known NKI high ranking official.

Reaching the top of the elevator, the doors opened, and the five walked out, reaching a secluded area of the stadium's corridors. The five huddled within whispering range, and went over the plan. La'kias brought up a 3D scan of the stadium, while Kirth went over the strategic layout:

"Our Underworld Guild official is further around the stadium, in one of the private boxes. He's given us clearance to enter his box and any other private box, posing as security guards, and only he knows our actual identities. We need to send someone to meet him first, to find out the non-disclosed details first." The 3D map zoomed in, showing a highlighted dot on a stadium section, where the private viewing 'boxes' were.

Sha'krii spoke up: "I'll meet with the Underworld official. I'm the best skilled negotiator here, and I'll radio the details when I find them from him. I'll make sure he cooperates as he promised. The four of you split up, and regroup when I've got the information."

It was set, and now the first stage depended on Sha'krii's role.

In the VIP box, the gathering was only five: 2 male Kro'nogri bodyguards, and one male Leg'hrul bodyguard, and a Kro'nogri male and female couple, of roughly 50 year old age each. The bodyguards absently watched the stadium's centre, the preparations for the next match still underway, while the couple enjoyed the wine they had ordered to be left in the box.

At the sound of the box doors opening, the guards turned, only to see a rather cloaked Kro'nogri, a female, but with only her mouth and eyes uncovered, the rest hidden under a dark veil of sorts with the cloaked outfit. The Leg'hrul guard, the leader of the guard trio, asked her:

"Who are you?"

"I have an appointment with Tharlos Nilori, under an anonymous title." Sha'krii said, keeping calm.

"Wait. Let her through Saralin, she's who I'm expecting now." The male Kro'nogri stood up. As the Leg'hrul guard nodded in compliance and returned to his post, Tharlos Nilori got off the couch, his wife following, and grasped Sha'krii's hand in greeting:

"Good, you made it. Did the others make it?"

"I've got the other four I told you about here in the stadium, and 2 others outside ready, in case we need to make a quick escape after the job's done." Sha'krii said. This time, Tharlos's wife, Lei'hatra Nilori, spoke:

"The contacts we have within the Gare'nan's group are ready. They'll hold up their end of the deal if he is killed, and the intel he would have sold to someone else will be yours for free."

Sha'krii was gracious, but also interested: "Good. We can make out next big plans with this intel. But, I'm curious, are you involved in the Underworld Guild too?"

"My wife and I met in the Guild. Had a kid even, he's off on his own now. But enough about us. You need to hit the target before the end of the next game, he'll begin to leave as soon as the final timeout is called. If you get him on time, we'll take over the contracts of any non contact guards you don't kill, and seal their silence with raised pay, initially at least." Said Tharlos.

Shaking Tharlos's hand in gratitude, Sha'krii said: "Thank you for the help. This can go a long way to helping end the war."

"And thank you, for easing up the harsh marshal law this planet had under the Alliance. Business is booming, both for other businesses and the Guild."

Walking out of the box, Sha'krii was not sure what to feel, having been so interactive with those criminals. The Underworld Guild was technically a crime organization, but it also helped provide people with the supplies they needed that the Alliance was limiting them of, including some food, clothing, manly consumer goods. As drugs and drink were not illegal, but limited in Alliance space, the trade of these was high too. The Guild was only illegal in that it operated outside the law, a black market.

It was still better than the Alliance. The Guild was strictly business, whilst the Alliance was fiscal and military control.

Radioing in, Sha'krii said: "Sha'krii here, intel has been received from the Niloris. Gare'nan is in VIP box 11, on the west side of the stadium stands. You have clearance, but he has many bodyguards. The contacts are loyal, but Gare'nan has many guards in there, and only 3 are contacts at least. Best if you all go in at once, swarm them."

"We can disable the guards with stun fire, and kill Gare'nan. We can sort out whose a loyal guard or a contact later. The first game round is starting." Lexa said over the radio.

Xale and Lexa regrouped with Sha'krii, leaving Kirth and La'kias to go it alone to Gare'nas's box. As the second game round began, the door opened, revealing a server and an empty food delivery cart exiting.

Before the box doors shut, 2 dark matter concealed figures snuck into the private box.

Now inside, Kirth tapped La'kias lightly on one shoulder three times, the signal to begin. It was simple, decloak, stun fire all 8 guards, and kill Gare'nas as cleanly as possible.

Kirth snuck into the centre of the box, while concealing La'kias, who circled around to stand in front of Gare'nas, who was now engrossed in the game below. In position, and it began.

Dropping out, Kirth pulled out his dark matter, and formed multiple tendrils to bind the guards arms to their sides, and gagging them temporarily. Immediately, La'kias decloaked, and slammed his foot into Gare'nas's body, pointing one submachine gun plasma pistol at the Leg'hrul's face, while using a smaller plasma pistol's stun fire setting to stun 3 of the 8 restrained guards. 5 bursts from Kirth's own plasma submachine gun pistol stun gun solved the rest of the guards.

"Gare'nas. The Underworld Guild sends us to teach you about how traitors are rewarded when they decide to try and go into business themselves, and drive their own guards to plot against them." La'kias said plainly. He had researched, this Leg'hrul was far from innocent, having authorized many killings and much dirty work of the Underworld Guild.

BANG!

One shot, and the Leg'hrul crumpled, his head now marred by a single burnt hole into the brain. At this point, La'kias thanked the two way mirror windows and soundproof doors of the private boxes in the stadium. Also, in his foolish obsession for security of any deals he cut, Gare'nas had the sensor networks to this room disabled for privacy. No one outside the room knew of what just happened.

Lining the bodies along the wall, Kirth spoke in a tone of light anticipation: "The stun rounds should wear off within a few minutes. We'll bind and gag them, interrogate them with specific information regarding the contacts, to tell who shall lead them now, and who we need."

"I suppose that means the others will need employment elsewhere then. I'm to also assume that their employment, and silence, is taken care of?" Asked La'kias. Bending down, both of them set about using multiple handcuffs and mouth gags they brought to bind and gag the 8 guards. Kirth continued: "The non contact guards and contact guards are promised raised pay under employment by the Nilori duo. Their payment will ensure their silence."

Sure enough, a few minutes later, all 8 guards were awake and alert, not responding well to awaking bound and gagged. Kirth and La'kias individually interrogated one each time, asking specifics about the deals with the Nilori duo. One managed to answer correctly, and they at least un-gagged him.

Breathing heavily, the Leg'hrul guard, a male, responded: "The information is on Gare'nas's data device. I can get the information you need, and I'll make sure the others get to the Nilori couple without any trouble." Warily, La'kias unshackled the Leg'hrul's talons, and as the Leg'hrul guard stood up, popping his wing joints with a light groan, he went to untie the rest of his men.

Like many hired guns, they were not paid to think much. They knew the deal, and the better pay at first, then the same, was enough to ensure their silence. The Leg'hrul contact walked over to Gare'nas's data tool, and took it off the body, and handed it to Kirth after toggling the settings briefly:

"There, no more security measures. You have access to all his data now. That's all." With a gesture of a wing, the other 7 guards departed, led by the Leg'hrul guard. Turning to La'kias, Kirth gave a light smirk of success, holding up the data tool with glee.

Then, a burst of radio chatter came in, with Lexa's worried voice on the line: "Kirth, La'kias! You've got patrol guards headed your way!"

Then the doors opened.

The doors slid open, revealing two guards, sent here. It only took them a few seconds to see the unidentified, very pale blue, whitish, red tipped Leg'hrul, and the pasty green scaled Kro'nogri, and to also see the dead, head shot body of Gare'nas, propped against the wall.

One of the guards, a female Leg'hrul, began to yell, but before the word could leave her beak, she and the other Kro'nogri male guard were seized by twin dark matter tendrils, and thrown towards the pair. Twin stun shots rang out, hitting the two guards in the head.

With the two guards crumpled unconscious now, Kirth saw a brief glimpse of something on the data tool they had from Gare'nas. A blinking signal, a last second emergency transmission to two stadium guards, deep in favour to Gare'nas. Now, with those two stun shots ringing out, the alarms began to sound in the stadium area, an emergency alarm for erupting violence. Only stadium or authorized military firearms shots would not trigger the alarms there.

"We have to go, before more guards show up!" Said La'kias. Looking out, Kirth said: "We can cut through the stadium, blend in with the crowds as they move! The alarms will sound only for the local area, so the main stadium should be fine."

"The main stadium is fine because this area is locked down! It's a good thing we have military grade equipment." Said La'kias, as the pair began to run down the corridors, Kirth cloaking them with dark matter. Sure enough, they reached an end, a section door, like a bulkhead in a ship, but for security.

With the data tool they acquired, La'kias used his adept hacking skills to override the security lockdown at this door for 10 seconds, lifting the door for that time. By the time they reached the main stadium emergence stairwell, the door closing echoed through the corridor, mixing with the roaring of the crowd out the doors.

Not one hour later, and the Leg'hrul/Kro'nogri duo had regrouped with the others in the stadium entrance plaza. With the data tool safely in hand, they headed back towards where Raxler and Shockwave waited.

But as soon as they reached the last corner, they saw that the local security had locked down the landing pads. Apparently the man they just murdered was of significance, and even though the Nilori duo promised a quick calming, the ties that Gare'nas had to security meant that his murder had them lock down the passenger ports, checking anyone going out.

If they wanted to get off the planet, they needed to divert the security away from the area. That was where the humans came into play, and Raxler.

"Security! I need backup! I have a hostage situation! Three humans have taken a pair of civilians, and are holding them at knife point in the street!" Yelled a Kro'nogri female security member. As she dropped the communicator, the dark haired male human, his face covered by a cover beneath the eyes, pressed the blade of the knife slightly harder into the Leg'hrul female's neck. Beside him, the brown haired male, his face also concealed, like the darker male and the dark haired female, by a cover beneath the eyes, pressed the Leg'hrul male harder into the pavement, stepping on the right wing hard enough to prompt incapacitating pain.

As the Leg'hrul female struggled, her suppressed screeches and caws of terror forcing themselves lightly from her throat, Xale leant in close, and whispered in a oily tone, drenched in malice and enjoyment: "Watch it little birdie. This knife might slip into your neck if you keep struggling like this. Besides, consider yourself lucky. Most women would kill to be this close to a guy like me." He lustfully whispered the last part in a sick tone, making the Leg'hrul female shudder with despair.

Lexa knew perfectly well that Xale was playing his part, and he played it well, as it came natural to him. He had said he would act like this to portray a serious situation to the security. Meanwhile, with Raxler pinning the Leg'hrul male, in his left hand a sword pointed at the male avian's back, she held the security at gunpoint with her rifle.

Hopping inside the attack craft, Sha'krii, Kirth and La'kias relaxed a bit, the data device in their possession. Sha'krii then spoke to the dashboard: "Time to pick up our diversion team."

"**The security forces have them surrounded. I shall fire in non lethal patterns to dispel them, then extract." **Shockwave's voice echoed through the passenger area. The attack craft form of Shockwave was ill suited to carry 6 people a long distance, but he need only transport them to the Dawnbreaker frigate, waiting only half a light year away.

Taking off, Shockwave armed the heavy cannon he carried as his alternate form's main weapon. The heavy railgun was ready with non explosive rounds made of iron, kinetic impact weapons only.

With a quick burst of thrusters, the antigravity lightened attack craft rocketed low over the city, beginning to descend as it neared a street intersection.

"I would recommend refraining from struggling, otherwise you will force me to take measures to physically incapacitate you for a longer period of time." Said Raxler, as he pressed down harder on the male Leg'hrul's wing and now back, earning a cry of pain from him. Behind the AI, Lexa's eyes snapped above, just as the security force and Xale looked up, to see an approaching, purple grey attack craft.

With a series of consecutive, loud bursts, the main cannon fired, and between the hostages and the humans/AI, and the security, the ground was ripped apart. Continuing to fire at the same spot, the attack craft flew through the dust cloud the shots were throwing up, rotating 180 degrees, and opening the cockpit compartment entrance to them.

Over the sounds of the sometimes firing main cannon, Xale yelled to the female Leg'hrul: "Nice talking with you birdie, but I've got to be places." He shoved her to the ground, causing her to hit the ground with some degree of pain, as he leapt into the cockpit. Nearby, Raxler seized the Leg'hrul male by the ankle, and threw him around, sending him colliding with the floored female Leg'hrul, and shortly after leapt into the craft as well.

With a last burst at the ground near the former hostages with her rifle, Lexa yelled with some degree of aggression, for the sake of their survival: "Get out of here!" As the couple scrambled away, trying desperately to get airborne, but the pain proving to much, Lexa leapt in. As soon as the female human clone was aboard, and the cockpit canopy was shut, Shockwave fired one last, long burst at the ground, and fired his thrusters to rocket away into the sky, punching towards orbit.

By the time the dust cleared, and security was beginning to call for the tracking of the craft, Shockwave was already in orbit, clear enough for FTL transit. With a flash of light, the craft jumped to FTL, heading for the Dawnbreaker, a mere half light year distance away.

Now in FTL transit, the successful members of the scouting mission retired to their set quarters, tired from the day.

Numbly, Shak'rii sat down at her small cabin's work desk, turning on the Alliance news networks channel. What she saw only added to her worries about the fighting.

Riots were spreading out across the entire Alliance, and supply lines to many worlds were being cut off or cut down, leading to further poverty and discontent. The Alliance government seemed to not heed this, or seemed to be unable to appease easily. Their resources were too thin to deal with riots of this size, scale and occurrence. Surprisingly, both Vaerakin and Tarihhis, the Leg'hrul and Kro'nogri homeworlds, and the most populated worlds, had been little hit by the riots. Konurich station, the designated capital of the Alliance, was lost to constant violence, and the station had become a nest of anarchy and civil war. The councils and monarchies wouldn't dare meet or travel to their own capital, sticking to their homeworlds instead.

Her brother was vocal, stating that this war would be won within half a year, claiming his utmost faith in the Dreadnought programme, with a total of 6 out of a planned 9 up and running by now, with 2 already in the enemy territory, wreaking havoc on many key routes and outposts and bases of the UIP. King Lo'rath was adamant of this war ending by the guns of the dreadnoughts, and if anything, some of his council were even more vocal and supportive, none more so than male Kro'nogri councillor Velaran, who constantly emphasized the need to force the UIP species to submit to their superior race, emphasizing how the UIP, with so many more species than the Alliance, still seemed to be losing once more to the pure might of the Alliance.

King Rho'kis on the other hand was mildly supportive, but there was an air of uncertainty, perhaps unwillingness, when he asserted his support of the war, particularly the dreadnought programme. Many of the Leg'hrul councillors, like the Kro'nogri, were unsure, and two individuals stood out among the councillors. Councillor Dae'karya, a female Leg'hrul, with her policy on using experimental means to win the war, what she called unorthodox warfare, and was also the one who drew up the original KI alliance branch as a plot, and also had a legislative hand in the Varya station project. It was also her recommendation to give Kal'sik a second chance, and give him a security posting for the dreadnought construction site.

Meanwhile, Leg'hrul councillor Zai'aran, a younger, more peace seeking male. He knew the plight of the citizens, and often gained their favour as he constantly protested against more and more desperate Alliance military bids, asking for an end to the war. He gained much abuse from the more loyalist councillors for this, being called a traitor, and aligning with the NKI and the UIP.

Sha'krii would keep an eye on Zai'aran. His similar cries to her own might be a way in swaying at least Rho'kis into considering ending the war. She knew that unlike hr brother Lo'rath, Rho'kis was not prideful, and knew to think things through fully before acting. He also loathed unnecessary violence, and she could see Rho'kis's disgust at the war's destruction of the alliance.

And yet, at night, she found herself sometimes staring at any picture of Rho'kis, longing, feelings she had tried to bury, and almost succeeded in burying, for just over 15 years resurfacing. She knew she still loved him, but she knew that he was lost to her. He had a wife, and a child, and he loved her dearly. That was why Shak'rii prayed for a peaceful end to the war, where Rho'kis would be unharmed, in power and in personal life.

She loved him too much, and if it meant for him to be happy she had to let him live with someone else, she would live with it, and anesthetize the pain of loss with the assurance that the one she loved was happy.

Settling down in his bed, Xale kicked off hit boots, deciding to sleep in his light under armour. Laying back, he felt something flat beneath his back, and turned around. On his over armour arms were some blue feathers, from the female he held hostage.

He picked up the feathers, about a dozen in all, and moved to throw them in a waste bin. But, he looked at them again, seeing the red flecks on the ends, and the slight speckled white patterns on them he only noticed now. An idea came to mind, not one with a purpose, but merely a kind gesture for later.

He knew they were heading back to the Solaris base within the next 2 weeks, as the planned raid on a selected UIP prison facility to free high priority information carrying Alliance members would be useful. He also knew that there he could easily find the supplies he needed to finished a gift for Azula.

Opening a small box, part of the supplies he kept with him, Xale placed the feathers carefully in one compartment by themselves, making sure they wouldn't be bent.

Setting down for a sleep, Xale dreamt of the hostage situation he had proposed to carry out. As guilty as he should be, Xale felt no guilt for it whatsoever. They needed to escape, and those two Leg'hrul happened to be nearby as he planned out a location for a distraction. All that mattered to him was that he had some sort of enjoyment out of watching the Leg'hrul female squirm under his grip, which he knew was malicious, and he did not want to enjoy things like that, but somehow, he just did. He couldn't help it, and he knew that he could put such sadistic tendencies to a use if he served a noble goal.

Whoever said heroes had to be role models anyway? Xale was happy enough, he could use his mental instability and insecurity in a useful way, he had a fulfilling job, and he also had the loyalty of many allies, the respect of many friends, but he only loved two people actually, his sister Lexa, and of course, his fiery princess, Azula.

Next door, Lexa had already fallen asleep, her black hair reaching halfway down her back, but sprawled beneath her now in a messy long flow. She could sleep soundly, for she had no issues with the mission she had just come from.

And it would be nice to get back to Solaris soon, to regroup and relax a bit in a more permanent area. However, the memories of seeing Xale and Azula hook up revived a slight, nagging pain in Lexa's chest. She was alone, while others had the satisfaction of a love and or work, she still felt the need for someone to love, someone to comfort and back her up, or to be backed up besides her brother.

But such desires were trivial in times of war like this. The only comfort was that if they ended the war, she might be more recognized, and she could have some people come to her. Then, there might be a slim chance she would find someone she liked.

In the meeting room, Kirth and La'kias had just finished a decryption of the data tool. The data pointed to many potential weaknesses in many UIP prison facilities, but only two of them were worth exploiting. Of those two, one had significantly more important people they could acquire than the other. The ideal target was selected.

The Garonth system, namely the orbital Garonth VII prison ship Tartarus.

The plans were set, and requests for some dispatched ships for a small fleet to raid the facility were sent out. All they needed to do now was wait.

Down in the cargo hold, Shockwave was jolted from his recharge once more by the snoring beast lightly kicking his side as she slept.

How he ended up agreeing to share the same cargo hold as Zirleth again was beyond his processing ability. The 130 foot long repto-mammal was a thunderous snorer, and her breath caused his olfactory sensors grief. She also had a habit of kicking while dreaming.

In his laid back bipedal mode, Shockwave dimmed his one optic again, slipping out of a conscious state for the 4th time that hour.

Not 10 minutes later, a shifting of his entire frame awoke him. His optical ridges forming a single optic scowl, Shockwave barely restrained form taking his right arm cannon and firing on Zirleth there and then as she had pulled him into a hug, like a mother mammalian animal would do to its cub.

Apparently, Zirleth had formed a subconscious like of the warm metal a Cybertronian body. If she could see the look on the 40 foot mech's face, his mouth ridges bristling with restrained murderous intent, and his optic narrowed dangerously, she might let go.

All Shockwave could do was disable his body sensors, and thus ignore the feeling of the Aree'lathor smothering him.

It was going to be an irritating flight, one he would not wish to repeat. If Lord Megatron could see him now, wherever the tyrannical mech had been sent to nearly 900 years before, he would collapse form laughter at the state his most loyal scientist and assassin was in, being smothered by an organic beast.

Shockwave had only ever been voluntarily close to a large animal once, his pet Diller bot, who died the same day himself and Megatron did in Chicago. No other animal would come close, certainly not Zirleth if she continued this subconscious behaviour.

At least the Driller didn't drool in its sleep.

**Hey guys, first chapter up, continue reading and review please, for feedback y'know?**

**Also, it helps to have read my previous stories: Into the Darkness, Redemption of the Dark Kind, and Dark Hunter, Dark Saviour. That way, you know the story before reading this one.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 2: Dissention, premonition.**

**8th July 2901**

**Kalesrin system, Vaerakin, Leg'hul royal palace.**

"**The systems are falling one by one, and so far the dreadnought attacks have proved very successful. Our casualty rates among our armies are at an all time low in the battles waged there, and only one dreadnought has had to be recalled back for repairs after extensive battle damage. Apparently the Geiros system defensive fleet were more spirited then anticipated." **Reported the hologram of Kro'nogri councillor Velaran. His voice was haughty, as if proud of himself.

The Kings and the higher council members were meeting in the war rooms, engaging in holo conference between the two separate homeworlds. Reports had come in of high success on the front lines as the dreadnoughts wiped away any fleet that dared attack them, and discussions of other matters concerning the war were the topic of today.

Leg'hrul councillor Dae'karya smirked, and said in her slightly iron clad voice: "I was confident that these new dreadnoughts were a good idea to finish construction. Our overconfidence and cancelation of the projects years earlier caused the war to be unnecessarily longer. If the UIP are smart, after a few more attacks, as we draw closer to the homeworlds, they shall surrender to our terms."

"And you could live with the murder of millions from these attacks, done and upcoming, on top of the millions already dead on both sides, let alone out own? These new dreadnoughts are manifested war crimes. While I cannot deny the safety of our own people by using these weapons, I feel uncomfortable about the slaughter we are unleashing upon the UIP races." Objected Leg'hrul councillor Zai'aran.

Scowling, Kro'nogri councillor Velaran stated snidely: **"So you would rather have the continuation of bloody, conventional warfare, to simply let your sense of dignity be kept intact by waging war the honourable way? In case it hasn't occurred to you Zai'aran, there is no honour in war. Do you think the dead millions of our military personnel care for honour, when losing it could prevent so much more death?"**

"I simply don't want to replace the deaths we would sustain with the deaths of UIP troopers. They are people too, hate them as you might. I am not siding with them, I simply see that if we wage war this way, we may win, but at the cost of the soul of our species. What will our descendants think when they look back on this?" Argued Zai'aran.

Before more dispute could erupt, Kro'nogri king Lo'rath barked out: **"Enough! This dispute is detracting from the topic. We still must address the growing violence and more brutal methods being used by the NKI to spread anarchy throughout the Alliance."**

Agreeing, Councillor Velaran brought up a news page: **"Six days ago a man, a forger and weapons smuggler named Gare'nas, a former Underworld Guild agent, was found dead in his VIP box in the Nal'harran central stadium. Reports from the police confirm the presence of 3 humans later escaping by a temporary hostage situation. **He brought up a photo of Xale, Lexa and Raxler holding the two Leg'hrul in the street: **However, confirmation from a leaked source shows that NKI leaders Kirth, La'kias, and Sha'krii were present there, collaborating with an agent to commit the kill."**

"It seems your sister is resorting to more violent means, your majesty. If I might offer, perhaps she is getting desperate." Offered Councillor Zai'aran. With a suspicious look, Councillor Dae'karya remarked aloud: "She is strong willed and intelligent. She would not resort to such visible means unless it served an ulterior motive."

"You believe she may be planning something with the other leaders?" Asked Rho'kis. From the moment he saw Sha'krii's involvement, he thought the same, but he now was beginning to not like where this conversation was headed.

"The NKI is a splinter group, their strength lies in the popular support, but they themselves are rather small in actual arms forces when compared to those forces still loyal to us. I suggest perhaps attacking them, to force them underground." Suggested Dae'karya.

"**And invite further violence from the masses in outrage? I think not. The situation is delicate enough as it is. The homeworlds are stable, but the rest of the Alliance sees instability everywhere. We have already had to abandon Konurich station to the rebels, we daren't meet there without substantial military guard. Leave them, they are cowards, who will run and hide, but will always return. Once this war ends by the dreadnoughts, we can focus on them." **Said Councillor Velaran.

"**Agreed. Any objections?"** Asked King Lo'rath, satisfied with the meeting. Rho'kis shook his head, no disagreement. With that, the meeting was adjourned.

Walking out of the war room, Rho'kis saw them time was very late in the night. He began to head to his private quarters, but snuck a glance at the two departing vehicles out in the palace courtyard through a window.

Councillor Dae'karya was ruthless and efficient in her judgements and proposals, which made her valuable. However, her contempt for those she viewed as of less significance then herself, and her lack of moral values when proposing war technology or tactics, as seen with the Varya and KI branch, was somewhat disturbing.

Councillor Zae'aran on the other hand was the opposition to the war. He was younger, more idealistic, but made many valid points. Rho'kis preferred him over Dae'karya, but the man lacked enough courage to truly speak out against the war. Of course he would likely be seen as a traitor if he did.

Kro'nogri Councillor Verakan was much the same as Dae'karya, though in his war favour, he would by nature stick to conventional means, unless in the case of the dreadnoughts, they proved very effective. He was as ruthless as Dae'karya, but had more influence, yet slightly less ambition.

King Lo'rath was the issue though. Having come to power at age 12, he was a minor for 4 years until he could fully rise to power. Dae'karya and Verakan had been in their respective councils since after the original council was killed 20 years before, having seen constant stance due to their effectiveness. Their policies of war seemed to have rubbed off on Lo'rath, for even the ambitious prince Rho'kis had known 16 years before would not authorize some of the things he did.

To maintain relations and the economic support the Leg'hrul worlds needed from the Kro'nogri worlds, and the other way around also, Rho'kis complied with any authorization, unless extremely adamant it was against such things. He had voiced protest to the Varya station, but had submitted due to persuasion from his council and Lo'rath. It seemed that Rho'kis was playing the underdog, a second, lower king. Lo'rath was more ambitious, more influential. Like Councillor Zae'aran, King Rho'kis faced opposition he could not easily overcome.

To this point, the challenge of the NKI, led by none other than his former fiancé, and once a great love, seemed to be welcome. It was at least easier to deal with however he did so.

With a light groan, Rho'kis sat down on the bed, climbing beneath the high thread count covers, his joints aching from the day's work. Beside him, Queen Ye'reski shuffled over, her wing enveloping his shoulders and head as he laid back on the pillow.

Leaning over him slightly, she nuzzled into his bushy neck feathers, murmuring: "What was the meeting about?"

"The dreadnought programme is still causing the councils to argue about ethical issues. Zae'aran is as adamant as ever. The more important matter was actually more simple. The NKI might be planning something, we don't know what, but Shak'rii helped lead an assassination and data theft on Nal'harran city." He said.

Silence held both the rulers, before Ye'reski asked: "You seem to be tense by Shak'rii's name." The sigh of her husband told all. He turned to her, and said: "I gave up on her long ago, and I'm glad I did, otherwise I'd have never met you. But, seeing her still brings back some memories, especially of the day she left."

Nestling into his neck feathers, Yel'reski whispered: "She made her choice to leave. I know you doubt her guilt, and I find it questionable too. Just, don't let her get to you. As you said, the problem of her and the NKI is actually easier to contend with than your infighting co ruler and councils."

This earned a small laugh from Rho'kis, who then enfolded Yel'reski's form in one wing. He whispered gently to the nodding off Yel'reski: "Good night my queen."

**8th July 2901**

**Alpha Centuari, Pandora, Omaticaya hometree**

The dreams had all happened between the three of them, most strongly with the Tsa'hik.

The Tsa'hik Mel'sity, and her two assistants Firi'sry and Tsu'kal, a male Na'vi, had been receiving the same dream from Eywa, with the same message embedded into the dream. Mentions of the eastern seas, the Ikran clans, and the mountain cliffs along the coast. The Kahtra'ya clan. Known for the jagged cliffs it was situated on, living off the sea life, and taming the sea Ikran, smaller but more agile than the mountain Ikran the Omaticaya used.

The dream continually mentioned a name, a deceased clan member's name. Bal'toro, who journeyed off world to uncover the truth, but was killed when one secret he found was too well guarded. His body had long been claimed by the earth, but his memories still were there at the clan's nearby network hub site.

In the planetary neural network, memories stored were easily accessed at the point where they were stored, otherwise a person would have to navigate the network to find them. With that, they risked mentally loosing themselves, and slipping into a permanent coma.

The dream stated to travel there, and arrive by the next season's beginning, in roughly 4 months. Eywa wasn't clear, merely whispering through the wind and collective voices that Bal'toro, even in death, would have his memories play a crucial role in off world events, and that Tsu'kal, and morespecifically Firi'sry, were needed to travel to the Kahtra'ya clan. Nothing more was said.

To keep with tradition, they would use their Ikran to fly there, despite the advantages of the shuttle they could trade passage with. At that point, the Tsa'hik agreed to send Tsu'kal and Firi'sry on their way to the Kahtra'ya clan just over 3 and a half months from now, ready to arrive at the Kahtra'ya clan on time with the changing season.

Ironically, they wouldn't notice it there, as the Kahtra'ya clan was situated within 2 miles of an active volcano. A mountainous, albeit gently active volcano.

Walking up hometree to her hammock, Firi'sry was tired from the day's hunting, a rarer occasion for her, and the teaching of the younger hunters. Circling up the spiral branches, she stopped short at one spot.

Walking slowly, she came to a ledge, with an opening, looking out at the entire rainforest below. It had been years, but Firi'sry could still remember watching from afar as Alex came here to brood, and to gaze mournfully out at the world that his parents restricted him from for his protection.

Times like this, Firi'sry found herself missing both of her children. Like a parent should, she had eventually, with help from H'nuptec and Eywa, learnt to at least forgive Alex for murdering her mate. However, she knew that the path he walked was dark, but more critically, far from over. It saddened her that her two children had been driven into a war between one another, even if after the Varya battles their tensions had diminished.

But Firi'sry had hope for Alex's return. She was proud of his involvement in a rebellion in the Alliance. He was helping a poverty stricken people, tried of a war they did not want, and had aligned himself with powerful individuals to do so. They may not be Na'vi, or human, or UIP, but Alex was still going out of his way to help the masses, in his own unique way.

Smiling briefly to herself, Firi'sry tried to imagine Alex sitting here once more, with Sru'sky and herself by his side, gazing out at the rainforest canopy many metres below. It was an ideal, pleasant thought, but fleeting nonetheless.

Tracing a hand over the bark floor of the spot, Firi'sry trudged up the tree to her hammock, eager to sleep, and maybe to have some more clarification of the vision dreams Eywa was giving her and Tsu'kal.

**Later that night.**

_Another vision, this one a dream in her sleep._

_Firi'sry found herself stood on a cliff edge, overlooking a jagged coast, with a village down below on a plateau. The Kahtra'ya clan used tents and wood to build more permanent homes, one of the few clans that did not live in a hometree, or in some cases, caves. The village was lifeless though, and yet untouched, the fishing boats and firepits abandoned._

_Her vision then tunnelled, zooming towards a volcanic ridgeline about a mile away, the runny lava flows creating vast clouds of steam as they flowed from magma vents, and entered the sea, adding to the blackened, new landscape._

_Before she reached the volcanically growing shore, she saw two other ghostly Na'vi flying alongside her. H'nuptec was on her left, casting her glances of reassurance, and gesturing towards the shore, and to the Na'vi on the right. On her right was an unknown Na'vi, one who seemed to wear drastically different tribal markings and clothing, wearing fish teeth and some fish armour as shoulder and torso protector._

_As they landed on the volcanic shore, before Firi'sry could ask anything, the whole sight blurred into a black and greyish landscape, everything but herself, H'nuptec and the unknown Na'vi male was blurred now._

_Then, from above, the sky clouded over, in an overcast of grey clouds, as a spectre like shape blazed over the shore in a smoky, flying stream, fleeing from two pursuing smoky trails of similar shape, but different colour. The first trail carried a dark grey colour, but had a shining green light inside._

_Connected to that light, was a wire thin tendril of similar green light, connecting to the queue of the unknown Na'vi male ghost beside her. As the grey trail flew off at breakneck speeds over the volcanic landscape, the two other trails, one a black with a strong, red glowing centre, the other a pale blue with a white centre, chased after it with haste, drawing in aggressively._

_Then, overhead, a massive shape, then 2, then 4, then more, appeared in the sky, blocking out the light from what little sunlight from the twin stars and Polyphemus there was. Massive, wedge shapes, with long bodies, that began raining fire and death on worlds distant from here._

_Whispers of the green light that the grey smoke was stealing, claiming it was a crucial piece to the end of suffering. The male Na'vi spoke, but his mouth was silent, but the meaning clear: "Salvage what remains, and the truth will make sense of all things."_

_The male Na'vi disappeared, and H'nuptec smiled briefly, flashing his canines at her, his blue skin flashing brighter, before he too disappeared, just as the dreamscape began to darken. His last whisper: "We're never apart, just harder to link together. Practice communicating with me, and it will benefit with others who need it."_

In the real world, Firi'sry stirred in her hammock, silently pledging such practice of her mental bonding with the network, and at least the one inhabitant she wanted to speak to more often.

Little did she know that does skills she developed would be very useful later.

**9th July 2901**

**Ba'hras system, planet Dev'ral, peragoth colony.**

"How could you forget!" Se'rie was incredibly annoyed at Alex, who was currently back stepping in shock.

The two of them had agreed to meet in a local restaurant. They had just returned to the Ba'hras system, for Se'rie and Norstith to re-immerse themselves in a familiar environment, and for some shore leave for the much of the NKI crew they were associated with. However, it was only the two of them in the restaurant, with only a few other patrons at their table booths.

Now normally being alone together would be pleasant, yet somehow, that was not the case today. It all started with Se'rie asking Alex if he knew what was important about that day. He replied he was unsure. That was a mistake.

"Wait, what!" Asked Alex, in slight alarm. Groaning in annoyance, Se'rie said: "What happened a year ago from today!" Wracking his mind, Alex replied: "Uh, I went to teach some cadets at the local school here, or roughly now."

Se'rie's anger was immediately replaced by confusion: "That was less than a year ago."

"No, it was a year ago. 365 days ago, give or take a few days." Replied Alex. Se'rie said simply: "A standard year is 406 days."

"…..what? I thought a year was 365 days, that's what I always saw and used in, the, UIP. Damn." Alex realized his mistake. Se'rie's face lightened a bit, her beak curving upwards in amusement.

Thinking, Alex did the arithmetic. That would put the date she was referring to as nearly 1 and a half months earlier. A few moments passed, and only one significant event stood out there.

"Oh shit! Se'rie I'm so sorry I forgot! I just was used to a different dating system, and the times, and I was very busy, and I was away on a mission on the date I thought was our anniversary, shit, shit, shit." Alex began worrying profusely, until Se'rie seized him by the shoulders and shushed him.

"OK, OK, calm down. Please, don't get so worked up about it. I wondered why you seemed a bit down that day, and also why you were so much kinder to me than usual, but you never said anything."

"I thought you already knew."

"My silly human. Don't assume things like that. But I guess I'll let it go this time." She guided him into their table, where menus were selected digitally via a touch screen menu on the tabletop.

Slightly downcast, Alex sat next to her, muttering: "If I'd known, I'd have planned something. Instead you had to do everything. Why can I plan military directives, but not tackle a simple data and timing issue? I'm an idiot."

Cupping his cheek with her wing talons, Se'rie turned his head to face her: "You're not an idiot, but you are too hard on yourself. That's your biggest weakness. You made a mistake, its what happens in life. And besides, I only organized the booking and everything, its not like you'd know this town very well after only a three month stay."

"No argument there. Let's order."

Sure enough, Alex and Se'rie entered an order, one of a shared plate of meat slices, and an large side of vegetables, at least large by Leg'hrul or Kro'nogri standards. Vegetables were mainly for the flavour, and the Kro'nogri were partial vegetarians, but they mainly derived their food from meat. Alex was an omnivorous species to the fullest extent, and he needed vitamins and minerals, even if only his torso and head were organic still.

Alex spied the waiter approaching with their food, and their drinks on a separate holder. Se'rie then leant into him, saying: "Oh, by the way, we'll split the bill."

The food was delicious, and talk soon turned to their lives before the entire mess of either the war, KI, or in Se'rie's case, confinement to planet Dev'ral began. Se'rie retold of an incident with her first flight, at age 5 and a half:

"Yeah, so Leg'hrul don't start flying until we're 5 years old, and even then it takes up to a year or so to get it right. I was out with my mother, we were using a deep snow drift hill, for a soft landing and all. So I took off, I was flapping like crazy, unstable, but I was flying. And wouldn't you know it, as I begin to turn back to the hill, this huge gust of wind comes from nowhere and blows me towards the hill. I hit the snow drift hard, hurt my head, and I was so embarrassed."

Laughing a bit, Alex commented: "Yeah well, better than what I was doing at that same time probably. I was about 6 years old, I'd finally seen I could possibly use the indoor exercise equipment, rocks on rope pulleys, weights, and so on, to strengthen myself. I was a little ambitious one day, just a few months after I started. I tried to lift a weight beyond my ability. I bring it off the hooks above my head, and next thing I know its choking me, weighing down on my chest, near crushing my ribs. I got it off and to the side about a minute after. Teach me to be ambitious I guess."

"You worked out a lot? I always was a bit jealous of other races, ones able to lift heavy weights, and take more hits. We Leg'hrul are too fragile." Admitted Se'rie. Alex lightly stroked her enfolded wing feathers, commenting: "Well, you have to give up some things to be as fast or sharp minded as your kind are, let alone be able to fly."

"So the world you grew up on, Pandora wasn't it? What was it like precisely, anything I'd like?" Se'rie asked, shuffling closer to Alex, nearly leaning into his side.

"Well, the air is quite thick, so it'd be good for your flying I guess, unless you've not been treated to process the toxins in the air, like hydrogen sulphide."

"Oh, we've got treatments, but I haven't had them or inherited them." Se'rie said.

"Right. Besides the poison air, the gravity is noticeably less, and the world's actually a moon, orbiting a large gas giant, with a much more populated moon nearby, Keletari. Anywhere I've been on Pandora is either rainforest, magnetically suspended mountains or colonies." Said Alex. He then asked: "What's you're home like, you're species homeworld. I've never been to my birth home, also the human homeworld, ever."

Se'rie was surprised. He had never been to his birth planet, despite all the travelling he had done. She spoke simply: "Well, I've only ever been to nearby colonies before all this mess with the NKI started. I've not been to Vaerakin myself."

Enfolding her body in one arm, Alex nuzzled the top of her head crest, tickling the sensitive feathers, causing her to emit a rumbling, purring chirp: "Maybe when the war ends, as it will likely do so in the next year or 2 I bet, if things calm down, maybe we could visit both Earth and Vaerakin. Just the two of us."

Craning her head towards his neck, Se'rie lightly open mouth kissed the side, gently licking his skin in the brief instant, a surprisingly pleasant thing for him to receive, which Leg'hrul commonly exchanged. Nestling her head into the crook of his neck, beneath his chin, she whispered: "I'd like that. No more war, just visiting some places important to us. Places we haven't been before."

"Let's just make sure the Alliance isn't stupid enough to render too many worlds in the UIP uninhabitable with the dreadnoughts before we do that." Commented Alex. Se'rie's expression became downcast, she was ashamed of the decision the Alliance had taken in instigating and continuing that expensive and horrendously savage ship programme:

"I'm sorry. I know you might not necessarily like some of the UIP, but I know what's happening to them is hurting you. You think we can beat those things, or stop the war before they do too much damage?" She asked, her voice a pondering whisper.

"I've destroyed a dreadnought already, but that was slightly less advanced, and I won't be able to sneak aboard in plain sight, and commit false suicide on all of the ones out there. I actually thought we had a chance by careful military coordination, before the dreadnoughts emerged." Alex admitted.

Around them, the restaurant was growing quiet, the dinner rush ending. Se'rie saw the inner pain Alex held at the mention of the hopeless situation, and found a way to boost both of their spirits: "Well, if it goes as planned, there will be no denying that you'll have redeemed yourself of anything you regret doing in the war. If it wasn't for your sabotage of the KI fleet, and the Varya operations, the UIP might have fallen, and the Alliance would be dragged into more trouble trying to maintain control of them. If anyone deserves recognition, its you."

"I had a lot of help over the years. I couldn't do any of it alone. I've made lots of allies, gone further to challenge the Alliance than any of my race or of the UIP, that and Shockwave, and I've got many reliable friends in the Alliance. I've been living my life more out here than I ever did in the UIP. I guess being betrayed will teach you to value who your true friends are, who you can trust." He looked at her with great fondness.

"And also who you can turn to if you ever need help, or just some support. We all need that at some point in our lives. Funny, a year and a half ago I'd have never thought I'd have a cute human boyfriend, let alone be involved in a revolutionary force." Se'rie lightly stroked Alex's chin, tickling his skin with her talons. Alex replied in a dazed tone, finding the tickling of his chin pleasant: "Life throws a lot of unknowns at you. I've learnt to never assume anything alone. Prepare, but don't believe for one second things will turn out how you think."

Se'rie looked at him, giggling slightly, saying: "Take life as it goes, and be ready to adapt? I like it." As she finished, a shiver ran down her spine as Alex began scratching beneath her head crest feathers with his hand, a very sensitive, stimulating part of the Leg'hrul body. Cheekily, Alex said: "Were you expecting that?"

"Sneaky human." Se'rie retorted, playfully and lightly smacking his shoulder. With just as much cheek as before, she then said:

"No, I wasn't expecting it. But, maybe we can make this trip more memorable, improvise later on, in more private conditions." Her tone was highly suggestive, and Alex was immediately liking where this was headed.

Se'rie noticed his look, and laughed a bit: "Hold on big boy, I said later. We've got much more to do before we get to that."

**Second chapter up. The first major campaign will take place soon, but first the return to New Earth.**

**As I said, Earth and Pandora will have much more integral parts in this story, though in later chapters, not quite yet.**

**Please leave reviews, I need feedback for improvements or anything of the like, or just anything to get an idea of the impression I'm leaving on readers.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 3: Risk assessment, reunions, dark thoughts.**

**28th July 2901**

**Solaris system, New Earth, Island base**

Time had been kind, and without any unforeseen campaigns or operations or raids that needed any attention, the selected NKI members had returned to the Solaris island base.

Currently, final plans were being held in a hologram conference room, around an oval shaped table. Projected above the table was a 3D shape of the prison station Tartarus, in orbit around Garonth VII. In the room, Ja'hail, Norstith, Morthas, Azula, Xale, Lexa, Raxler, Alex, Se'rie, Shockwave's holoform and a visual uplink to Aru'san in her hanger, ensured all physically on the base were aware of the plans. In holographic form, Commander Kirth, lieutenant La'kias and Princess Sha'krii studied the hologram. Shockwave was studying the map, saying aloud possible hazards inside upon infiltration:

"The facility is armed with magnetic flooring, walls and ceilings, used to hold the prisoners in place with specially worn ankle restraints in the least. Disabling this magnetic system will be crucial in helping the prisoners successfully cause havoc, and allow us to liberate them on the ships we will send in."

Kirth then pointed to the structures on the station's upper hull towers: **"Tartarus station won't have long range scanners, but the communications relay and any nearby FTL communications satellites will need to be disabled or destroyed. We can't afford the UIP to send in reinforcements, otherwise too many lives will be lost unnecessarily."**

"**Our insider agents, thanks to our contacts in the Underworld Guild, will fulfil their part in sabotaging what they can. They're hiding as prisoners, but have been useful in providing inside information. It will need a covert, quick strike to disable communications, and bringing in a ship with strong jamming equipment to block any communications from guarding vessels nearby." **Added La'kias.

"The priority will be on prisoners with useful tactical knowledge, and perhaps some of them have insider information on the dreadnought programme." Said Azula. Morthas narrowed his eyes in amusement, saying: "One thing at a time Azula, it's a concept that works out well. You should try it."

"All transport and assault ships from the Underworld Guild and defected Alliance military are ready to go, stationed in the Zegreis system 8 light years away. They have more than the sufficient collective space to house all the prisoners, and the guards on the ships are trained and ordered appropriately to interrogate prisoners to isolate ones with usable tactical expertise or knowledge." Replied Shockwave.

Nodding, Shak'rii then summed up: **"All that remains now is to choose which of you will help lead this operation directly. You can't all do it, for the risks involved, and we have to ensure we have some of ourselves left for helping with an additional assignment alongside this one."**

Kirth then explained, bringing up a projection of the Xathana shipyards, showing the massive dreadnoughts under construction there still. 2 were still a few months from completion, the third was in the final construction stages:

"**One of our sources confirms that the dreadnought construction is still underway. They report 2 dreadnoughts still months from completion, but the third being ready soon. We want to ensure these warships never make it out in time, or out at all."**

"Attacking ships that size seems suicidal to me. From what I've read and heard, the Emancipator was bad enough." Se'rie commented. Lexa looked at the ship holograms, asking: "The weapons are offline. So they want us to sabotage these ships?"

"**Yes. The more developed ship will be tricky, but the other 2 dreadnoughts will be easier. The recommended strategy is to target the main reactor of the shipyards, causing a chain reaction of a power overload. Otherwise, destroy the key systems of the dreadnoughts. Engines, the bridge, hangers, the primary weapon-the antimatter shell mass accelerator. Anything to delay the dreadnoughts by a few months, 5 or so, at least, would be beneficial. So amek the damage count when its done." **Replied Kirth.

"**In the meantime the three of us shall continue leading the home front of the NKI. You just focus on the Garonth prison station raid, and then the dreadnought facility raid." **La'kias said.

"**This prison raid could be a key point, and help us turn the tides more in our favour. Good luck, and thank you." **With Sha'krii's last good will tiding, the holo conference ended, but they left the holograms of the prison station Tartarus and the Xathana shipyards still up.

Later on, after a brief respite, the decision time was upon them.

Meeting just inside the underground fighter hanger, Xale, Azula, Lexa, Alex, Se'rie, Ja'hail, Norstith, Morthas, Raxler, Shockwave [in his full mode] and Aru'san's complete draconian form had congregated. The decision: to see who would at least go on the prison ship raid. And already, excuses, albeit justified ones, began to fly.

"I can't go because I am more useful tactically if I remain here." Replied Raxler. Norstith then said: "The magnetic defences, if active for even a bit, would compromise my ability with my still currently metallic body. I would assume then that neither Alex, Shockwave or Aru'san shall be going either, seeing as they are a large percentage of metal in their form?"

At Norstith's point, Alex scowled in annoyance. It wasn't that he wanted to go, but he didn't like being unable to go. Shockwave was impassive, and Aru'san merely also said: "My from is more suited to open areas anyway, particularly with an atmosphere. Attacking a station is not my strong point."

"I might be learning fast, but I don't think I'm quite ready for a mission this risky just yet." Admitted Se'rie. No one seemed to argue there, for the reason that there were still 5 skilled people left. Xale, Azula, Lexa, Ja'hail and Morthas had no reason not to go, as they carried much less metal than some of the others, much of their combat and armour hardware being framed in composite or fibrous material.

However, there was still untapped potential for a raid on the dreadnought facility, as Shockwave began:

"The dreadnought shipyards are guarded by a standard Alliance squadron, and station emplaced defences. Provided that sufficient ships are mobilized in time, the three dreadnoughts can be attacked and disabled before their weapon systems or AI software become fully operational. In this instance, personnel skilled in space tactics and specialize with infiltration and hacking are useful."

Immediately, Shockwave looked at Raxler: "Myself and Raxler shall be useful here. Additionally, Alex and Norstith will prove useful, given their past work experience with the old KI."

"Sneaking aboard an enemy stronghold and destroying it outright? Just like old times, except I'd normally be with you Morthas." Said Alex. Not amused, Morthas retorted: "You were the one who destroyed when I told you to preserve. I always insisted that humans have the feature of being overzealous in combat too often. I viewed it as a weakness, and still do, despite what others may say."

"Well maybe that bombastic flair I so often implemented will be what this shipyard sabotage mission needs." Finished Alex. He then had a thought, and said to Aru'san: "Hey, the prison ship Tartarus is sealed, but the dreadnoughts under construction aren't. You could come as well, infiltrate directly into the superstructure of the ships where it's open."

"Yes, I see. I can also provide transport for 2 sealed organic, or synthetic personnel. My small size and stealth field projectors can help me infiltrate. I see a measurable probability of success being added to the mission statistics if I accompany." Replied the draconic AI.

Alex thought for a moment, and said to Se'rie: "This would be a space battle, not quite what we've been training you for. But, you could be useful as a battle overseer, give us directions to specific points in the shipyards, and relay any orders we give to the fleet while you're aboard, along with any of us here who aren't, well, preoccupied."

"I'm no engineer, but I can handle navigation and battle directing. Sure." She replied, her exposed feathers fluffing briefly in a shrug like motion.

With that, everyone had their assigned roles. For the chance that a rescued member of the prisoners from the Tartarus facility yielded intel useful to the shipyard raid, the non prison mission members [Alex, Se'rie, Norstith, Shockwave, Raxler and Aru'san] would depart and meet up with an NKI fleet near the shipyards, but safe. The shipyard strike would move in, only after confirming whether there was usable intel from any prisoners. They would be ready regardless, but any information would help greatly.

Later that evening, Azula found herself staring out at the horizon, seeing the red sun just having dipped below the ocean line. Instinctively, she inhaled and exhaled deeply, relishing the air of her home planet once more, after being away for over half a year. Her hands warmed, as the breathing stimulated small blue jets from her open palms down to the floor.

Footsteps behind her, and Azula felt a pair of muscular, pale arms snake around her waist, as Xale leant over and rested his chin on her shoulder: "Its good to be back home huh?"

"I'll admit seeing the galaxy, albeit the human disliking Alliance, was inspiring and insightful. But, there is a sense of assurance and satisfaction of being on one's own world once more."

A parade of footsteps sounded behind them, as it seemed the balcony of the organic quarters was becoming a quite popular place for sightseeing. Alex stared out at the horizon, ignoring the embracing fire princess and his clone nearby, even ignoring Se'rie for a brief moment as he spoke to himself, but also aloud:

"So peaceful. Makes me remember why I thought it was a blessing that I found this world. So much happens out beyond this sky, and yet here, life goes on with much less change." Light, clicking footsteps, as Se'rie drew alongside him, her metal talon covers making the iconic sound. Lexa drew nearby also, saying aloud:

"I think a lot may have changed. In case you haven't remembered, there were two of the people who helped at Varya on this planet who were expecting when we left. Mai and Katara ring any bells?"

It then dawned on Alex. They had just arrived back, and had probably up to two weeks before they had to leave. Preparations were underway, and they could afford to visit some old friends.

Se'rie was curious, and asked: "They'll have had the kids already. How old would they be now?" Thinking, Lexa did the arithmetic: "Let's see. Both were roughly halfway through when we left, so probably 3 months old each for the kids at least."

Se'rie then grabbed Alex's hand, asking: "I've never seen a human baby before, and I really liked your friends when I met them. Please, can we visit some of them?"

"It wasn't a question, we are going. We're here, so we may as well visit them. But be warned, human babies are known to be vicious, messy creatures." Alex said the last part with mixed honesty and humour.

Xale saw an opportunity, and said: "Hey, apparently I was never like that as a baby."

Lexa rolled her eyes, and said: "Xale, you and I were never really babies. When you were technically three months old, you were cutting down training robots with weapons you'd been taught how to use in a cloning tank."

"I guess he's right then. You two were messy as babies, and vicious." Retorted Se'rie.

Xale shrugged, and ruffled Azula's black hair a bit, but recoiled slightly as she whacked his hand away in mock anger. At his expense, the others laughed at his fear of his own girlfriend.

**29th July 2901**

**Southern Air temple**

Having received a very quick letter, Aang and Katara were expecting visitors from the island. They knew it was Alex, Se'rie and Shockwave again at least, but that some others may be coming, ones who could not easily appear in much more public locations.

Katara was inside the temple, but Aang waited patiently on a plaza balcony of the temple, with Momo flying around, chasing butterflies in the plants. As per his daily routine, Appa was snoring in a corner of the temple nearby, his six legs slumped over as he lay on his side.

Sure enough, 2 shapes appeared from the cloud banks below. One was recognizable, as Shockwave had already visited, and Aang presumed that there were others inside him. The other shape was a surprise, and quite a shock.

Appa groaned as he heard the mild roar of a fusion rocket, and cracked open his eyes to see a familiar purple craft landing near the plaza. What the bison saw next startled him, and made him defensive.

Flying up, a four legged being with a long, winged tail, 2 very large, foldable wings on its back, and a reptilian lizard head on an extendable neck, landed on the ground with the mild scrape of its claws. Over its body was grey scales, almost metallic in colour, and its eyes shined an unnatural red colour, like embers in a fire pit.

As the creature landed, the flying bison roared aloud, the air blast from his mouth sending Aru'san back a few feet on her metallic claws. Then, impossibly, the creature's back opened like a set of doors, the hatch blending perfectly with the grey armoured skin. Inside, a familiar armoured human leapt out, landing quickly on the plaza floor. At that point, Aang leapt between Appa and the visitors:

"Appa, WOAH! Calm down!" At his friend's words, Appa calmed, still growling defensively, but stepping backwards slightly. In front, Alex's helmet unfolded, while Shockwave had already landed, and having let Se'rie disembark, transformed into his giant bipedal form.

Rushing up to Aang, Alex quickly summarized Aru'san, of her being a animalistic shaped AI, usable as transport and as a gestalt individual, much like Raxler, except her hardware differences and less logical, more emotionally attuned processing power.

By the time Alex was finished, Appa had padded up to Aru'san, carefully sniffing the draconic AI, before groaning aloud and giving her a massive lick. Although Appa was shorter in body length, he was bulkier than Aru'san, and heavier. Aru'san stumbled from the lick, noting: "Many mammalian instincts are normally to taste objects for identification. I do not wish to experience that more than necessary, there is too much negative feedback from my sensors."

"That is the price I must pay myself for investigating the air temple ruins again." Rumbled Shockwave, as Appa licked his frame, albeit less fiercely than with Aru'san. He then gestured: "Follow me Aru'san. Your files could use some archaeological reference material to fill the empty space."

The draconian AI padded off after Shockwave, leaving Alex and Se'rie with Aang. Momo was perched on the Avatar's shoulders still, while Appa had elected to sleep once more.

Then, from inside a doorway, Katara stepped out, carrying a small bundle in her arms. She greeted the two in a pleasant, albeit tired tone: "Alex. Se'rie. It's so nice to see you two again after so long. I saw Shockwave take that other one, Aru'san I think, off with him."

"Who's this cute little baby?" Se'rie's vice was curious and mildly gushing as she walked up to Katara, gazing at her daughter. Behind her, Alex groaned at her 'sensitivity', but wanted to meet the spawn himself.

Smiling, Katara said: "My daughter, Kya. We named her after my mother, who Alex helped rescue from a war prison. We thought she was dead for over a decade, but she was alive." Looking at Alex, Se'rie asked: "You saved her mother?"

"Truthfully, I had no idea she was there. The name rang a bell when I heard it though, plus she was the only long term prisoner who could still walk."

Reaching out a talon slowly, Se'rie looked at Kya's round face, as Katara held her steady in her arms. Kya stared up at her with a blank expression, and lightly grabbed her talon in a single hand, her face splitting into a babyish grin, and giggling slightly at the strange bird creature's contact. Smiling, Se'rie commented: "She is cute, I'll give her that."

"Thanks. She had a good mother to get her looks from." Aang said. Katara blushed slightly.

**Fire nation royal palace**

"Say hello to your niece Azula." Said Zuko, cautiously pleasant as he led his sister and her companions into the living room area. He still harboured a sense of caution around his sister, despite the trust she had built. Old habits died hard.

Ursa walked beside Azula, while Xale and Lexa trailed behind somewhat. Zuko went on ahead, bending over at the couch to gently Mai, who had fallen asleep on the couch with their daughter.

"Mai. Mai, wake up, Azula and her allies are here." At Zuko's voice, Mai's eyes opened, rousing her from her nap. Miyuko slept on peacefully, comfortable in her mother's arms. Looking up, Mai smiled only very slightly at Azula approaching, and also at Xale and Lexa behind her.

"Azula. It's nice to see you after so long. You had us concerned." Mai said, earning a look of surprise and a playful retort from Azula: "Concerned? You think I don't know how to hold my own? You don't know me as well as I thought Mai."

Talk turned to affairs between Azula's departure to the NKI and now, both on this world, and in vague, relatively understandable terms the events outside this world. It came as quite a surprise the sort of actions that Azula's faction were getting up to. Normally the Fire Princess had specialized in suppression of rebels, so the fact that she now fought as one was ironic. However, she admitted that her tactical mind was being tested to its fullest potential out there.

"I must admire the Alliance races for their military prowess, despite the ultimately unsustainable spending they do on war. They fight like nothing on this planet." Admitted Azula.

Lexa grumbled a bit, saying: "Benders and normal humans can't bite chunks off you or cut you to ribbons with their claws, or fly. I know that all to well, at least the first comment." Sure enough, she pulled up her jacket sleeve slightly, revealing a scar and healed flesh. On a skirmish into an Alliance bunker, a tactical and annoyance raid, her left arm armour had been damaged, and had to be scrapped. With her left arm exposed, when she was ambushed by a sneaky Kro'nogri trooper, he managed to bit a half wallet sized chunk from her arm, luckily only tearing flesh and muscle, only scratching bone as he withdrew. She had been saved by a loyal NKI recruit, and after a week's treatment on growth stimulants and cell regenerative procedures, she was out again. Of course, the divot of missing flesh was still there, and likely always would be. However, she wore it as reminder, and as a trophy, one better earned than any tattoo ever could be.

Talk soon turned to their return, to which Xale merely said: "Well, we've got a bunch of missions, too complicated to say here and now, coming up. Luckily this planet was nearer to the locations we need to get to than the Alliance space. So we decided to come back, make our next plans, and maybe kick back a bit and visit the sights while we're here."

"In any event, its nice to have you here Azula, and to see you happy." Ursa said, reaching out a hand to cup her daughter's shoulder. Smiling, Azula muttered her thanks.

**29th July 2901**

**Xathana system, Xathana shipyards, construction complex habitation area.**

Sitting behind his desk, Kal'sik poured over the schematics of the dreadnought designs, and of the bills and schedules he had to oversee not only as the facility's and defending fleet's second in command, but as a scientist as well. His contributions from experience with the Varya station research division had proven valuable to some alterations to half of the Dreadnought force. His proudest feature he designed was the final stage of any mark II Dreadnought construction, which was associated with the integration of the ship's AI systems.

Of the 6 Dreadnoughts currently out there, 3 were Mark Is, which worked like a much larger battleship, but with a higher than average AI network assisting with operation. The mark II dreadnoughts were more autonomous, but not entirely, and had a higher focus on internal automated force manufacturing, effectively becoming part mobile weapons factory now, at the cost of the speed of the ship in FTL transit.

However, Kal'sik's thoughts were on his commander, and his higher command who approved the Dreadnought project.

Admiral Kha'ralan was an aging fossil, stuck in his old ways, who would simply use the dreadnoughts as a way of making the UIP surrender on masse preferably, avoiding deaths with the threat of death itself. This was also what Kro'nogri King Lo'rath and councillor Velaran wanted: victory through fear of force. As their opinions were dominant, Kal'sik was stuck serving a subservient Admiral directly, one who would not exploit the dreadnoughts to their fullest potential,

As a true Kro'nogri, as Kal'sik thought to himself, he felt that a weapon that was not used was useless. These dreadnoughts were designed to be the ultimate engines of destruction, and if Kal'sik had his way, more worlds than were current would be burning and quaking under the fire of the dreadnought attacks. Only Leg'hrul councillor Dae'karya shared the sentiment to utilize the Dreadnoughts much more thoroughly, at least to scare the UIP definitely to surrender on first sight of a dreadnought. But even she was limited, she still believed to a lesser degree of using the fear of force to make systems fall in line.

Kal'sik knew from experience the bravado of the UIP races, having seen them fight back in the Varya operation, despite their surprise. He could have pushed them back, and held them back, had the old KI remnant not interfered. If the UIP was to be truly subjugated, if the unjustified violence on Konurich station sprouted by those UIP early ambassadors 16 years earlier that claimed Kal'sik's mother and brother in a mass riot, and hospitalized his father for 2 months until his death, there was only one solution.

With the dreadnoughts, every world important to the UIP, military, economic, civilian, was to be attacked, burned to ashes. Every strong section of the UIP must be broken, every stronghold of heart or courage must be shattered.

The destruction of the UIP would require ruthless brutality, which Kal'sik would be happy to carry out. If the UIP were to ever be defeated, they needed to be broken. With these Dreadnoughts, in Kal'sik's mind, the lives of those Alliance members that would be killed in conventional battlefields would be saved, and the deaths of the UIP members would merely be changed in how it occurred. For every death the Dreadnought's killed, another one or more was saved from the conventional battlefields.

The UIP would burn under the fires of destruction, and Kal'sik was among those willing to do what was required to fulfil such an ambitious goal.

**Hey guys, as per usual, please can you leave reviews to give me usable feedback? I could use suggestions for improvements.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 4: Joint departure, Tartarus.**

**14th August 2901**

**Solaris system, New Earth, Island base**

"**Plans are finalized then. The Underworld Guild has hired large smuggler ships, and the defected Alliance navy ships have sent a few large transports on route to the Garonth VII system. The military branch raid will meet up 30 light years from the system, then move in with their strategy." **Said Kirth. La'kias then chipped in his intel:

"**The Underworld Guild agents are already moving forwards with their sabotage, but even if it fails, your force shall be enough to get the operation underway, and stave off an Alliance response. I suppose we were lucky that the Dreadnought raids are diverting more Alliance resources to defending potential targets, rather than prisoner of war facilities."**

Sha'krii then issued her statement: **"My operations are proceeding smoothly. We are gathering intelligence from across the Alliance, and spreading any news to support the NKI to the UIP. At the rate its going, Konurich station is all but completely under our influence. As such, we will establish an influencing hold on Alliance transport routes linking through the station area."**

A holographic scan of the Xathana shipyards, in the Xathana system, was brought up next. This was the more difficult target, but they still had time to make plans. Shockwave scanned the hologram, analysing the structural and defensive weaknesses of the entire facility and the defensive fleet around it. He brought up files stolen by Underworld Guild agents and defected Alliance members:

"The shipyards are defended by a single heavy duty fleet, consisting of 2 battleships and their accompanying groups of support ships, meaning 4 cruisers, 6 destroyers, 6 frigates and 6 patrol corvettes. In addition, the facility itself is armed with defensive emplacements of missile launchers, mass accelerator weapons and heavy laser weaponry."

The hologram shifted to reveal highlighted scans of the 3 under construction dreadnoughts, their 12 kilometre long forms dwarfing the defensive fleet ships: "The dreadnoughts are only marginally defended themselves. Each dreadnought has only a small fraction of its defensive emplacements active, but 1 has all its defensive armaments equipped, but inactive. Of the 3 dreadnoughts, 2 are still under main stage construction, and do not have their complete engine or reactor array for their critical systems. The 3rd dreadnought is nearly complete, with the hardware all but completely in place. What is missing still, like with all the dreadnoughts until the final construction stage, is the central programme matrix, namely the AI core, housed in a separate vessel of frigate sized proportions. These are constructed alongside the dreadnoughts, and the most complete ship's AI core is only half finished, and is yet to be programmed."

Sections of the dreadnought superstructures became highlighted in red now, where the exterior armour and hull plating was missing still: "When the NKI ships attack the dreadnoughts, the hardest targets, focusing on the un-armoured sections, and the main reactor cores and engines, should disable them for some time, possibly destroy them. Only the energy weapons are active among those weapons that are online, we cannot count on a chain reaction of uncontrolled explosive warhead detonation."

Next to Shockwave, Alex swore under his breath, thinking: _Well, I guess my way of taking the Emancipator down wasn't going to work twice, even if I planned to live if we did it too._

Closing the hologram, Shockwave finalized: "The Xathana shipyard facility attack is incomplete in planning, but finalization of the plans can occur on route to the system. Necessary ships can be routed from NKI strongholds as we travel there. Priority for while the Xathana leaders travel is to ensure the Tartarus facility raid goes smoothly, and to see if any usable intel from any rescued POWs can be used to ease the Xathana shipyards raid."

It was in agreement then. The Tartarus station strike team, consisting of selected former KI forces, Xale, Lexa, Ja'hail Rathor, Azula and Morthas Krithos, would depart in 2 days, to load up and prepare for the attack departure. Leaving 2 days from now also would be the Xathana shipyards team of Shockwave, Norstith, Raxler, Alex, Se'rie and Aru'san, taking their own section of former KI forces with them also, to meet with a fleet near the shipyards system.

**15th August 2901**

1 day left until both raids left, and the loading of both regiments for the raids was well underway. The forces were being loaded up, and of the orbiting fleet over New Earth, the Liberator battleship and 1 cruiser would go to the Xathana shipyards raid, while 2 destroyers would head to the Tartarus station. The last cruiser, Subjugator, the final destroyer and the 2 corvettes would remain behind to defend the home base.

Inside the underground levels, Xale and Lexa had finished their sparring exercises, and now went off to double check their weapons before departure tomorrow. Inside the same gym, Morthas and Se'rie were sparring each other. Or more appropriately, Morthas was schooling Se'rie in sparring, for he was a much more seasoned warrior, and Se'rie was a rookie, albeit with potential and speed.

Ducking from an overhead swipe, Se'rie spun around quickly, her long tail feathers swinging around at speed. Leaping up, Morthas avoided the sweeping attack, and with a single flap of his wings, had kicked Se'rie in the shoulder as she finished her spin. Stumbling back, Se'rie uttered a low screech, using her wings to leap at Morthas from a high jump, her metal covered talons outstretched as she swooped towards him. Ducking and sidestepping, Morthas grunted as the metal talons suddenly swung around unexpectedly, as Se'rie flapped once mid flight as she passed, delivering a roundhouse kick to his side.

"Nice one. Keep it up and you might just start tiring me out." He jibed at Se'rie as she landed. Spinning to face Morthas, she replied: "Start? I think I've been doing a good job so far."

"You're still a rookie though." With that, Morthas half leapt, half glided to Se'rie, blocking a forward jab from her right wing, his leg kicking up to catch her other wing, and grabbing it in his talons. Ignoring her cry of surprise, Morthas threw her to the floor a distance away with his foot. Grunting, Se'rie clambered to her feet, massaging her wing briefly:

"Not bad. I guess I need more training though." Charging Morthas once more, she swiped with her wing edges and talons, while Morthas almost danced away from the attacks. He commented: "Well, it's probably due to the fact that one of your 'instructors' is in a relationship with you. Alex isn't usually soft in any way on his students."

"He's not soft on me in training. Besides, even if it is true, what was he like from when you knew him?" Ducking as she finished the sentence to dodge a wing swipe, Se'rie waited for an answer. Almost smiling, Morthas commented:

"He often gave bruises to others in training, on some occasions broken bones. Many times he pushed himself to the extent that he required work on his mech limbs, or even cracked a few of his own ribs. But now, I guess he's too busy with tedious administration and leadership to go all out in training. Helps some of us match or surpass him, though I already did in hand to hand combat."

"Wait. You beat him in hand to hand drills? And you're wondering why I'm not beating you?" Se'rie asked. Right at that moment, he thumped her in the torso side, nearly winding her, and grabbed her in his talons, throwing her around him and onto the floor. From one Leg'hrul to another, this was a hard hit. With Se'rie on the floor, Morthas pinned her under his foot, smirking boastfully as he commented "No, I was just trying to see if you know a lesson in combat. Know when you don't stand a chance at victory."

As Morthas got off her, Se'rie simply groaned in pain, and lay down on the floor, exhausted.

After Morthas left, Se'rie was still on the floor, too beaten to get up just yet.

As Se'rie gazed up, Alex's face and body filled her view as he stood over her.

"Sparring with Morthas?" He asked. Se'rie groaned in confirmation. Shaking his head, he picked her up by the shoulders, helping her half limp to the elevator. He commented:

"Everyone has a dominant strength. You were unlucky enough to face him and his greatest strength."

"I guess he'll be useful in the Tartarus raid then. Makes me wish he was coming with us." She said weakly. Shaking his head, Alex felt how hot she was under her feather coat, commenting: "No, he wouldn't leave anything for us to take on. Now, you need a cool drink."

Azula was testing out new technology she had been given, developed by Raxler and Shockwave, to enhance her pyrokinetic techniques, or firebending. Her technology consisted of neural implants, relatively easy to install and uninstall with little to no scarring, which helped focus her mind to control the nerve transmissions for the firebending. By boosting neurological focus, firebending came easier to her.

Azula fired burst after burst of blue fire towards a target, roasting the metal frame with the fiery projectiles. She had been going for half an hour, and her power was beyond what she had ever had before. As a consequence, Azula perfected a form of high velocity firebending, allowing her fire attacks to travel much faster than normal, with the same amount of power.

Launching her last fireball, Azula took a stance quickly, clearing her mind, drawing the energy within herself. She could feel the power, the electrostatic buildup, and as she finished her quick movements, she struck out with her middle and index finger of her right hand, pointed directly at the target, and fired. The lightning burst forth, a concentrated beam with arcing bolts coming off it. The target was electrocuted, and blasted in the centre, leaving a blackened scorch mark.

Breathing, she calmed herself, letting her emotions become collected. She perfected containing her emotions when not needed, and as such, she could subconsciously do away with this emotional suppression to fuel her firebending when she utilized it, whether in training or combat.

She was more physically powerful than she ever was before, with her implants and technology she had access to. But she was content, she was happy, she was part of something bigger than this world. And Alex had been right. She could rule this world now, but it was not worth the challenge. That kept Azula in line, her need to be challenged. For once, taking over territory was not a challenge.

Her character was centred around self improvement, which meant challenging herself. Seizing control of New Earth was too easy. Combating the Alliance as part of a renegade group, that was a proper challenge.

**20th August 2901**

**1 light year from Garonth system.**

Staring out the window, Xale muttered: "Great. I almost get carted into this place after fighting Alex first time, and now I'm actually breaking into it."

Not looking up from his console, Ja'hail retorted: "Shut it. The Underworld Guild agents have already begun moving to help sabotage the station. We should be ready to begin in a few minutes, half an hour tops."

Morthas looked out the viewport. Outside, at the meeting point a light year from the facility, the fleet of attack and transport ships waited. The cruiser Subjugator was leading, from the former KI fleet, and was the only true former KI fleet ship here. The rest of the fleet was of 3 NKI defected Alliance destroyers, 2 NKI defected high speed frigates, and 8 military transport frigates.

Turning back, Morthas merely said: "Right about now the riots should be underway."

**Garonth system, Garonth VII orbit, Tartarus orbital facility.**

"Get me UIP sector fleet security! I need reinforcements! Lock down the bulkheads!" Screamed Warden Gra'til. The Na'vi warden was livid, and alert. Without warning, multiple system failures and cell block openings had occurred stationwide. Now, a full scale uprising was occurring.

On the few video feeds left, Gra'til ground his fangs together as he saw prisoners assault a trio of heavy guard mechs, stripping it of the handheld particle rifles they had used to only take out 3 of the prisoners before being struck. His facial markings glowed with his anger, and only brightened when a male human technician spoke up:

"Warden! Long range sensors and all communications are offline! We're helpless!"

Resisting the urge to smash the human's face into the interface boards, Gra'til engaged the intercom:

"**All guards fall back to the main utility sector! All mech units open fire on any prisoners, stun rounds preferable!"**

A pair of panicked calls from other technicians sealed the hazards for Gra'til:

"Sir! Short range scanners are detecting an attack fleet approaching! Vessel shapes match known Alliance ship variants, but their IFFs match NKI signature!"

"Incoming boarding craft, headed for the eastern docking silos!"

The tube shaped shuttles flew in rapid speed, firing their thrusters to land on the station docking bay exterior, with magnetic clamps holding them in place. From the underside of the craft, a docking tube extended each, suctioning onto the silo hull.

Inside a station corridor just below the hull, automated guard mechs fired upon a dozen rioting prisoners behind an overturned crate stack. Panicking, the prisoners looked up in fear as the ceiling began to burn, a molten ring appearing in the hull. Alarms blared as a breach in hull integrity was detected, just as the hull circle section was dropped into the hallway.

Leaping down, plasma fire erupted from the rifles carried by the NKI recruit troopers and former KI mech troopers. The guard mechs fired back, killing one recruit trooper and off-lining a KI trooper mech, before they were all cut down by the plasma fire.

As the troopers coerced the prisoners out of hiding behind the crates, more troopers dropped into the station through the cut holes. The boarding craft latched onto the station edge, plasma cutting a hole in the hull, and used energy field disruptors to redirect the backup particle shielding around the boarding tube. Should the boarding craft be disrupted, the station particle shields would quickly take over, doing what they should have been doing, stopping decompression.

Orders were issued, and the NKI troopers and AI troopers began to spread through the station, ordering all prisoners to retreat to the boarding craft they themselves had come in on.

Within minutes, the station became rocked as the attack fleet began lightly bombarding noncritical sections, to divert attention away from the interior problems. NKI forces began to capture the larger ventral hanger bay, making way for the armed cargo shuttles coming in to pick up more prisoners.

Aboard the cruiser Subjugator, Morthas ordered the continued light barrage of the station. However, the stationed defensive fleet of 2 UIP destroyers, having dropped out of FTL jump from a previous position half a light year away, were proving to be an irritation, and he was under orders to disable, not destroy if possible.

Grinding his beak's teeth, Morthas muttered aloud: "There's only so much we can do with EMP missiles and light laser fire." Facing the cruiser's command console, Morthas issued a ship-wide order to the automated gun turrets: "Heavy laser emplacements, target the UIP destroyers at their propulsion and communication systems."

At the Leg'hrul's word, laser fire fired into the distance of space, hitting the destroyers with great effectiveness from 500 kilometres away.

In the record vaults section, Azula fired down the hallway, her blue fire igniting the UIP guards 20 metres away, sending the humans and Klingons into a panic. Turning to face the other direction, she saw a black jet fire towards the approaching Na'vi guard from seemingly nowhere. The jet impacted, crashing the male Na'vi into the corridor, and the black haired male clone stabbed the Na'vi's heart, quickly silencing the guard.

Inside the information vaults, Lexa and Ja'hail skimmed through the records of prisoners, only looking at high profile prisoners. Most were Alliance spies or operatives, and one a captured field commander. But one entry caught their attention, one who was being kept in an interrogation wing, and was also a UIP race member.

"Jarothes Hutreck, male Grey, age 39, taken in for crimes of treason, counter espionage. Last treasonous act committed was the exposure of rogue KI members sabotaging Varya station AI network. See documents on Alex Hunter requested interrogation upon capture."

As she read, Lexa realized they had found who had ratted them out for the infiltration run at the Varya battles, the mole inside Zoran's network. He was here, and he was alive. And, he might be able to explain his actions, and be a useful asset, or die. His choice.

Ja'hail saw her look, and said: "I know, I say we get him too. Let's get him, the interrogation wing is a few corridors away. I'll radio a squad to make sure the way's clear for us."

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure Alex will be pleased to find out who we got." Lexa said. Although she was averse to unnecessary violence with many of the people she had killed being in self defence or deserving of death for their acts, she did not like traitors. And this Grey, Jarothes Hutreck, was a traitor to his race, a traitor to the UIP and almost cost the infiltrators their lives at Varya. He would pay, whether with his life, or with useful intel or skills for the NKI's purpose.

The evacuation was underway, with prisoners fleeing to docked cargo ships and the boarding craft, some already departing fully loaded. NKI forces, organic and synthetic, covered any passages leading to the docking bays.

The rest fanned out, looking for stragglers or usable intel or equipment. One squad was already in the interrogation wing.

The door slid open, and before the five's eyes, they saw the squad of 6 synthetic former KI troopers engaging the 4 guards in the interrogation wing corridor. Within seconds, Azula fired a large blue fireball, igniting their armour and flesh, sending the guards, 3 Humans and a Romulan, screaming to the floor in agony.

Ignoring the pleading guards, Ja'hail set up a defensive position for now with the 6 sythetic NKI troopers, while Morthas accessed the cell doors. After a few seconds, he had hacked the local console, and unlocked the doors. Pointing to the only occupied cell here, Morthas said to Lexa and Xale: "Get inside, restrain him as soon as I remotely release his bindings."

"I'll help Ja'hail set up a clear path to the docks." Said Azula, setting her carried heavy plasma handgun and plasma submachine gun pistol to fire at their highest rate of fire. As the firebender went to join the mercenary and the 6 synthetics, the clones marched into the opened cell.

In his interrogation chair, Jarothes's large, black eyes swelled. If possible, his small grey body's skin would have turned white. Inside marched 2 humans, formidable looking. Their helmets obscured their faces, but they were armed to the teeth with guns and 2 swords each.

"Jarothes Hutreck. You're coming with us." Said the male, his voice a oily drawl, and hinting at unpleasant, yet eagerly anticipated events. As soon as he said that, the grey's bindings sprung loose, prompting him to rub his thin wrists and ankles sensitively.

"Massage your skin later. We need to get you off this station." Said the female, seizing him by the wrist, yanking him to the floor of the interrogation cell. Relieved, yet fearfully, Jarothes said: "Thank you. I was in here like usual, interrogating, my guards, you-"

"Shut up!" Barked the female human, hitting Jarothes hard enough to send him to the floor, the grey crying in pain from the blow. Not giving him time to recover, Lexa picked Jarothes up, swinging him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes, marching out of the cell. Xale followed, amused at Lexa's temper coming out at the knowledge of what this Grey had done to himself by ratting out the Varya infiltrator team.

A few odd firefights later, and the group had encountered a blockage. A section of station passage had depressurized, and the automatic bulkhead doors had sealed the way. Morthas called for a boarding craft to make its way to the section they were in, as it was on the hull's edge.

Just as he finished the call, a sharp intake of breath from their token Grey prisoner alerted them to an advancing group down the hallway. Turning, Morthas and Ja'hail armed themselves, while Lexa handed Jarothes to a synthetic heavy trooper that accompanied them, as she armed herself with Azula and Xale.

A mad glare on his face, fangs bared, Warden Gra'til winced as the plasma burns on his left arm stung once more under the healing patch. The Na'vi male aimed a heavy rifle at them, flanked by 4 of his most elite soldiers, each also carrying heavy rifles. He hissed in a low, dangerous tone: "If there's one prisoner I will not let you take from me, it is that traitor. Either release him to me, or I will gun you down, and I do not care if he dies in the crossfire."

"I think I know you. Weren't you once some big shot teacher in a military academy or something? Funny what your students would think seeing how you let all this happen." Lexa said, gesturing with a nod to the chaos around the station by its corridor walls. Meanwhile, Azula was subtly looking along the corridor walls along the 10 metre gap between 20 metre gap between them. She noticed the circuits and ridges, and hatched a plan. Using her visor, she texted the plan to the synthetic troopers, and to her fellow humans, Kro'nogri and Leg'hrul allies.

"Warden Gra'til, sir. Our internal comms show their forces are still evacuating our prisoners, and are in force. I suggest shooting them now, and retreating." Said a Vulcan trooper, her voice laced with no emotion, her words radiating caution. Laughing a bit, Ja'hail commented: "First part's a bad suggestion, second part's a good suggestion. I'd take the second part if I were you."

"I will not be made a fool of in my own facility, lizard. Men, open fire, kill these alliance members and human traitors." Gra'til's men made to fire. At that moment, the humans, Morthas and Ja'hail, stepped aside, as 3 synthetic troopers fire impact detonation grenades halfway between them, small enough in yield to not damage them, but enough to shatter the hull between them.

Air instantly began to funnel out of the corridor into the vacuum of space, a rushing tornado leaking out of the swiss cheesed section of corridor. Over the screams of panic and localized alarms, the bulkhead sealing doors between them shut off the 10m metre section.

Clapping Azula on the shoulder, Ja'hail commented: "Nice call on blowing the hull." As they saw the burning hole begin to appear further on the wall down the opposite way of he corridor, their docking boarding craft, they wondered if any of the guards had been caught in the depressurization.

"Sir, we lost Guards Yeh'reil and Grant." Said Gra'til's Vulcan female guard. Snarling, losing his cool, Gra'til smashed the bulkhead door in front of them, where two of his guards had been sucked into space before it sealed. Bellowing in frustration, Gra'til shook with anger, swearing in Na'vi under his breath, his translator not going that low in volume.

Whirling to face his guards, he said in his coldest voice: "Find a way to raise our comms network. Report the failure of the facility defence. And get to an escape pod to the surface of Garonth VII. UIP patrol will pick us up there."

Not a few hours later, and the NKI convoy was already on route, the cargo vessels having bee transferred all the prisoners, save one. Any information that could be used from any prisoners would be taken on route back to Alliance space.

On the bridge of the cruiser Subjugator, heading back to the Solaris system, Morthas looked at the consoles, commenting to a nearby Xale, Lexa, Azula and Ja'ahil: "Our mission was a success, with roughly 80 per cent of the few thousand prisoners rescued."

"Yeah, well, let's hope that the shipyard raid goes as well, if not better. They should be starting it in a day or so." Commented Ja'hail.

**21st August 2901**

**3 light years from Xathana system.**

"Stealth recon fighters are back." Comm'd an accompanying NKI destroyer. On the Liberator's bridge, Nortsith responded: "Excellent. The findings are what we expected. Send in the destroyers, bombers and fighters first. We'll drop in with the cruisers and 3 battleships when the enemy defensive fleet squadron line is broken."

Dropping communcations, Norstith got another call: "Infiltration team ready in the hanger." Responding to Alex's call, Se'rie being near Norstith on the bridge, she said: "We'll give cover fire as planned, but don't do anything foolish. We need results, not heroes."

Amused at his niece's double meanings, Norstith said: "I know this is counter to the chain of command, but do as she said. It is the best thing to do from a tactical point of view."

"That and you don't want to tell me what she'd do to me as her boyfriend if I came back after doing something stupid. Whatever, ready when the time comes." Said Alex's voice.

In the Liberator's hanger, with the dozens of fighters and bombers ready, and the few boarding craft, Alex sat inside Aru'san's cockpit compartment, concealed inside of her frame's torso, the compartment opening from carefully concealed flaps on the back. He said to Aru'san: "Ready for your first mission?"

"As ready as I was programmed to be." She responded.

"I can confirm that her hardware and software guarantee a high level of survivability." Comm'd Raxler. He would be flying, like Shockwave, in space, though he would latch onto Shockwave's attack craft mode, like a remora fish to a shark, during transport between targets.

"In any event, as long as we can punch through the defensive fleet, we should have a simple mission. Simple, but I fear not easy." Commented Alex.

"Are missions like this ever easy?" Shockwave rumbled over the comms.

"According to statistical probability and analysis of assets on both sides, no." Responded Raxler.

**Fourth chapter done, and I am getting the first missions out of the way quickly, but as well done as could be done.**

**Please read and review if you feel I could improve, but I can't without feedback.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 5: Piracy, new command.**

**21st August 2901**

**Xathana system, Xathana shipyards.**

Reverting back to sublight speeds, Shockwave's attack craft form engaged its stealth fields, disguising himself from all but visible views. Behind him, Aru'san dropped out of FTL, her form folded inwards, the wings set along her torso and tail, her head set straight and drawn in, bearing a shape similar to roughly that of an attack craft as well.

Ahead, the NKI fleet was already engaged, firing at range at the defending Alliance shipyard fleet. Mass accelerator fire and laser fire from dozens of miles away flashed by around them, the NKI fleet dropping out of FTL at close range to gain surprise. Alongside them, NKI fighters and bombers flew towards the four Alliance destroyers a hundred miles ahead.

Comm chatter from the fighters was heard, the translated voices of the NKI Leg'hrul and Kro'nogri being identified:

"All fighters, target the opposing fighters, break a hole in the squads to let the bombers get to the critical systems of the destroyers." A voice, the squadron leader, rang out on the comms, before directly addressing the two craft and their passengers:

"Infiltrator craft, hang back until we've broken the fleet lines a bit before slipping through to the main facility."

Acknowledging, Alex called Shockwave and Raxler, also addressing Aru'san: "See if any of you can tap into Alliance communications. Long range comms are out for them, but their radios are still working. Get us an idea of their situation."

"Very well. Scanning all channels." Said Raxler.

Aboard the shipyard shuttle bays, stomping through the corridors, Admiral Kha'laran spoke to Captain Kal'sik, his XO on site.

"We need to coordinate with Alliance reinforcements in the next Alliance defence post, we can't hold off these raiders indefinitely. It's been confirmed there were internal saboteurs of automated defence satellites, and they've damaged our communication relays. Combined with the jamming signals from ships outside our weapon range, and we're on our own."

"Then hunt down the ships, destroy them. We're sticking too close to the shipyards, and surely the more complete dreadnought has sufficient defensive arms to defend itself and the two less complete ships in drydock?" Offered Kal'sik. Swerving to face the captain, Kha'ralan spoke sternly:

"No. Our orders are to protect the ships at all costs, and that is best accomplished by focusing out force nearby!"

"Which means that in the event that they breach our lines for even a short time, they shall have a better chance at damaging the dreadnoughts." Quipped Kal'sik. The captain's aggravation was beginning to grow, with his advice on aggressive defence being continually shot down by his senior ranking officer.

Ignoring Kal'sik, Kha'ralan began to make his way to the shuttle docks. He spoke one last time to his captain: "You have your orders. Follow them, its our best course of action. Don't let your pride and temperament impair your judgement. You are an intelligent officer, but my fellow admirals did comment that you perform better in a lesser leadership role anyway, which would be best considering past mistakes." He was obviously referring to Varya. Nearly 1 and a half years ago, and that military disaster was still Kal'sik's 'iconic' military moment.

Seething, Kal'sik turned to head to the main command centre of the shipyards, in a more fortified section, built into a captured asteroid used for some of the shipyard's raw materials. By the time the admiral's shuttle had departed the hanger, Kal'sik's next steps were in motion.

_The resources I need to end this war once and for all are here, just beyond my complete grasp, and I am continually denied using them. But my time shall come, I know it. And the Alliance shall see me for my ruthless strength, and the UIP shall burn world by world._

"One of the battleships just took a direct turbolaser hit to the starboard shield array! Focus all fire on that section!"

"NKI heavy ships opening fire, barrage hit, shields overloading! Keep it up!"

"Shields about to go critical, overload too much, get away from the ship before the EMP backfire detonates!"

Sure enough, as the Alliance Battleship finally lost all main shields, the overload of energy absorbed by the shields was released in a single pulse. The electrical pulse fired out, striking some NKI and Alliance craft just the dogfighting or fleeing.

Inside craft, synthetic programs were wiped, and organics struggled inside dead hulks.

A convoy of shuttles limped, struck in all systems by the EMP, but not entirely. Comms and sensors were down on all the ships.

Aboard one shuttle, Admiral Kha'ralan slammed the dashboard hologram interface, growling in anger at the dead state of his shuttle.

"Sir, I can see a flight of NKI fighters coming in to take out stranded Alliance ships!"

Cloaked, Aru'san and Shockwave flew behind the fighter squadron, using the hole blown in the flank by the battleship's shield overload. Much further behind, the Liberator and its fleet closed in, all guns blazing, focused on the non shielded battleship, melting the armour with the superheated laser and plasma fire.

"All fighters, squadron of shuttles ahead, looks like some of them are carrying officer markings!"

Taking the communications, Alex issued a command: "We can't risk them escaping, even if their craft are limping. Destroy the shuttles, then continue through."

The lead fighters opened fire a few seconds later.

Aboard the Liberator bridge, Se'rie was taken aback by the kills Alex just authorized, intaking a breath sharply. Norstith reinforced her: "It had to be done. We couldn't take them alive, so we had to rob the Alliance of critical resources."

Sighing, Se'rie hoped that any more deaths in this battle would be less numerous. She surveyed the shuttles being torn apart by fighter fire, while the fighters, and presumably stealth disguised Aru'san and Shockwave made it past.

On the command bridge of the station, Kal'sik stared numbly at the screen, seeing the vaporized remnants of Admiral Kha'ralan's shuttle and its 2 escorting shuttles, caught in an EMP blast, and picked off by NKI fighters.

Kal'sik forgot the true situation momentarily, and asked the command staff aloud: "Kha'ralan is dead. Who is next in command?"

"You are sir. You're in command of the fight now." Said a female Kro'nogri communications officer.

A new part of Kal'sik's mind was opened at this point, and he exercised caution, but used his newfound command: "The loss of the admiral has shown me a change of tack is needed. Tell half of the Alliance defence ships to engage the NKI ships further out, with the others providing long range cover fire. And bring as many guns of the dreadnoughts online as possible."

"Sir? You do know that the weapon activation will take half an hour."

"Then stop asking questions, and begin activation sequence."

Outside, the NKI fighters were engaged in various dogfights in the space near the facility, while the bombers hammered away at the facility itself. The NKI fleet, including the Liberator, was focusing fire on the defending Alliance fleet, so they were occupied.

However, amidst the chaos, several dozen boarding craft slipped through, along with two unique craft.

"Targeting the more complete dreadnought will ensure the harder target falls first." Stated Shockwave, firing his thrusters to head towards the underside hull of the gargantuan ship. Raxler was atop his frame, sitting on the armoured wings of the attack craft, surveying the battlefield and the dreadnoughts.

Aru'san's frame, under cloaking, spread its wings, the surface area that also provided lift, now providing an exchange surface for the heat from her more powerful drive core and main reactor aboard. However, she slowed down slightly.

Inside, Alex asked: "Aru'san, your speed is falling. What's wrong?"

"I am taking extra time to scan the dreadnought nearest us, the more constructed ship. I cannot fully understand it, but the data feeds coming to me about the ship are prompting my self preservation programming to delay my runtimes to carry out the task at hand."

"Your feeling fear, I think. The large size of the ship seems to be intimidating, I can agree there."

"I am only mildly concerned about self preservation in light of its physical size, although the troubling data is concerning the main reactors of the main dreadnought and the less complete ships."

"I detect it as well. Energy readings from the main cores are rising, the more complete ship's more rapidly. They're bringing the ships online." Stated Shockwave, his voice slightly faster now.

Swearing mentally, Alex brought the comms channel up, saying to Aru'san and Shockwave: "We continue forwards, but I need to warn the fleet!" He then spoke through the channel:

"This is a critical alert. I'm not sure if fleet scanners detect it yet, but the main cores of the dreadnoughts are powering up! Main weapons are offline, but the defensive weapons will be online in a few minutes! Focus all fire on the less complete dreadnoughts, we're going to infiltrate the more complete ship, gather intel, and sabotage if possible. Once we're clear, engage the remaining dreadnought!"

Norstith acknowledged, and cried to the comm channel, signalling the other fleet ship leaders: "You heard the human! Focus main fire on the lesser dreadnoughts now!"

Se'rie was at a terminal, saying to the sensor staff commands: "I want detailed scans of the dreadnoughts, any weaknesses in their structure we could exploit now or later."

She looked out worriedly at the battlefield, and of the facility hundreds of kilometres away, visible as a greyish speck from here:

_Please come back alive._

The hole burnt through the floor, and from it, Alex and Raxler leapt through, the former completely sealed from the vacuum of space in his hardsuit. Raxler chimed out the status:

"Infiltration successful, boarding craft heading to sectors closer to main reactor and AI core storage. Aru'san and Shockwave, help coordinate precision targeting with the fleet, and attack critical systems of the facility."

"I shall pinpoint critical points on the ships with laser sighting, relaying it to the fleet ships." Rumbled Shockwave. Even as he spoke, he was perched on the top of the immense ship's hull, in bipedal mode, synching up his targeting lasers to the NKI fleet's systems.

"I am heading to attack the facility itself. I shall target the jamming towers on the facility's asteroid surface on the far side." Said Aru'san, thrusting off under cloaking as she reported.

Nodding, Alex whipped his head around in fear as his helmet detected a moving presence down the corridor. His arm coming round, plasma rifle unfolding, the wrist light shone on a construction drone, a self replicating model, capable of making more of itself. Sighing, Alex lowered his arm, asking Raxler: "Will these things be a problem?"

"These are mere construction drones. They posses basic programming, and are barred by code to attack any organic being of size sufficient to be classified as sapient. They will not be aware of us."

With his magnetic boots clamping to the corridor floor, Alex set off, beckoning Raxler to follow: "C'mon then. The boarding party should have nearly finished scouting out the path to the drive and AI core."

Lining up her targets, Aru'san came out of visual cloaking, now only visible to the naked eye. She had the first jamming station in sight. With these towers gone, the targeting systems of the NKI fleet would be improved and not disrupted.

On the asteroid's far side, away from the main battle minus a few dogfights, Aru'san fired to full throttle, her torso thrusters glowing bright blue. Closing in towards the tower, the fire from the lone laser cannon arced uselessly around her, unable to target her accurately.

Charging her main reactor, Aru'san first deployed a missile from her build in small weapons bay, firing it off. The projectile streamed in, and in seconds it had accelerated, and smashed into the particle shields of the tower. But this warhead was an EMP shockwave warhead, which transmitted its energy along the shields, shorting out not only the particle shields, but the ray shields too. And in the moment the tower shields failed, from 5 kilometres away, Aru'san charged her molten metal accelerator cannon, and fired.

Under molten state, metal does not respond to magnetic fields. To combat this, the metal was electrically charged after being melted from aluminium and tungsten. The mass accelerator coils drove the molten metal down the suspension chamber, concealed in the back of Aru'san's 'throat' and out of her mouth. As such, a glowing stream of red hot metal slag shot forth, at speeds around mach 8, and collided with the tower.

The tower keeled over, metal fusing together under the heat, also being initially broken by the kinetic impact of the molten stream. The jamming signal vanished, and with a simple acknowledgement, Aru'san flew off back towards the facility, to take out the other main jamming station.

"Captain! Jamming tower 2 isn't transmitting anymore!"

"Intensity of NKI fire on dreadnought number 8 is increasing! They're firing more accurately now!

Snarling, Kal'sik drove deep scratches into the metal chair he sat in, as he listened to the panicking officers around him. He shouted: "Is the more compete dreadnought ready!"

"Weapons systems are go! AI core is coming online!"

"Good. And when the second lesser dreadnought comes online, use its engines to move it behind its same condition sister ship! Use it as a shield to protect at least one, but keep at least a 5 kilometre distance between it and the other dreadnought!"

"Yes sir!"

"Sir! Unidentified craft approaching the jamming tower at high speed, visual detection only!" Cried a young tech officer, pointing at a video screen, showing a strange craft flying at high speeds towards their general area of the facility.

On screen, Kal'sik saw the craft unfold, and expand, extending what appeared to be wings, and legs, arms, a tail, and a reptilian head. But it was not organic, nor synthetic, but somewhere between. The metal armour and glowing stripes gave away its synthetic features, but the skin, a grey scaly hide, which seemed to be resistant to the conditions of space.

On screen, the creature seemed to rear up, before closing in on the last tower, now 400 metres from their position on the bridge. Looking out of a viewport, Kal'sik actually saw it, a beast, firing a small blue missile from somewhere, and then opening its maw, and firing a glowing red beam, not only knocking over the tower, sending it spiralling into space, but actually melting large, visible sections of it.

The creature flew overhead, passing by the command bridge, coming within 30 metres actually, low to avoid the laser turrets around the bridge, and itself. As it flew, Kal'sik was in awe, and rage, as the creature's somehow red glowing wings, like heat panels, were spread wide, almost triumphantly. The claws on the limbs were intimidating, and for the briefest moment, the creature slowed, locking eyes with the bridge, and for one moment, Kal'sik's eyes.

The eyes, a deep piercing blue set of organic appearing eyes, seemed to flicker once, then the creature flashed a pair of fusion drives, and rocketed away.

Still in awe, Kal'sik snapped out of his daze, requesting a status report, to which he received good news for once. The dreadnoughts' defensive weapons were now online.

Immediately, the ore complete dreadnought lit up with laser fire, while the shield role lesser dreadnought lit up, thought with less cannons, also. A volley of missile fire illuminated the dark expanse, covering the few hundred kilometre distance to the NKI fleet.

As the ships vibrated slightly under the volley of defensive fire, a tech reporting synthetic soldier on the bridge buzzed aloud: "Defensive fire not critical to shields, but it is not recommended to proceed any closer."

"Alright then. Hold position, keep our shields up, but maintain as much fire as possible!" Said Norstith. This was bad, the battle had now become a stalemate. With the NKI fleet out of the range they needed to quickly finish this, the battle would be long and drawn out, something the NKI could not afford to do.

The infiltrators were the best hope for victory now.

"I thought you said the AI cores would be offline and detatched on the dreadnoughts." Asked Alex, looking at the sight before him.

"Correction, I stated that fact based on reports at the time. It is confirmed that the AI cores of the two less complete dreadnoughts are now present, but it seems we arrived as the AI core had been fitted to the more complete vessel. At present, it has not yet fully downloaded all its necessary programs."

In front of them, inside a massive open space, sat the drive core. Akin to the fusion plant's sector of the Emancipator, this space was even larger, roughly 800 metres in diameter. However, it was larger for a reason.

Inside this massive 800 metre wide, circular chamber, occupying the vast majority of the space, was the frame for the AI core. Not just a frame, a ship in its own right, literally. According to initial data mining of the less restricted files accessed on terminals approaching the core, the dreadnought frames were indeed built here, in the Xathana shipyards, but the AI cores were modular units, integrated into the actual carrying vessel for the main fusion plant and drive core. The whole vessel was in fact, a small destroyer sized ship, able to travel in FTL at reasonable speeds, armed with enough defensive and offensive weaponry to go toe to toe with ships nearly twice its size, but most sinister, the fact that the AI core controlled everything aboard itself made this ship like an individual mind. And once integrated into a dreadnought frame, with its carrier vessel able to eject and reconnect at any moment if need be, the dreadnought could go from a simple gargantuan weapon, to a thinking, self aware ship, able to pilot itself.

Luckily, the distrust of AIs being unlimited by the Alliance made sure that programs were installed to show the benefit of organic and synthetic minds working together, rather than only one or the other. There would be a crew, just one significantly reduced for a 12 kilometre long ship.

This AI itself was equivalent to an infant, having only come online literally a few moments ago. It was busy uploading programs and files, whilst the infiltrators were readying a strike.

Ordering a set of infiltrators to hack the AI connections, Raxler turned to Alex, radioing in: "The AI connections cannot be stopped indefinitely, but they can be delayed, giving us time to determine how to correctly shut dow-ow-ow-bzzttt!" Raxler began to vibrate, his eyes flashing red hazardously.

Panicking, Alex stepped back, unfurling every weapon he had. The synthetic soldiers near the AI connections were continuing their work, but despite crying orders, they seemed to not heed anything, seemingly stuck on their last command, unable to end their function of slowing down the AI program uploads.

Buzzing, Raxler seemed to identify Alex: "Target Human. Affiliation NKI, terrorist group. Subject for immediate termination." Unfolding his built in plasma swords, Raxler charged, seeming to roar in a buzzing tone. Yelling in shock, Alex spun away, using his dark matter to launch himself high above to the ceiling, his magnetic boots clamping onto the ceiling. Running while cloaking himself, he dodged any close shots as Raxler opened fire with his twin plasma cannons and even his neutron beam cannon. One hit from that beam weapon and Alex was history.

Panic surging in his voice, Alex screamed onto any open channel available: "Infiltration mission here! The AI core of the more developed dreadnought is online, and very dangerous! It's hacked my squad, disabling them, and Raxler is attacking me! He's been hacked! I NEED AN ASSIST!"

Still having the channel open, not bothering to shut it off, Alex screamed to Raxler, while dodging another yellow neutron beam pulse: "Raxler, its me! Your creator Alex! You're better than this! Don't let that thing hack you, you're superior to anything other synthetic I've had the luck of knowing! Snap out of it! Don't make me destroy you!" His voice seemed to crack out loud on the last part. Something about his own creation, someone he knew he could always rely upon, turning on him outside of their will, stung deep in his soul. Raxler was like a son to him, and a brother, and a most valuable ally. Losing him would be like losing a part of himself.

"Please, I can't lose you, you were all I had in the time I spent alone! Fight back! FIGHT BACK !"

The hacked synthetic merely buzzed as it processed, and ignored the pleas for help, firing more beams and plasma bolts at the human overhead.

Her heart stopping, Se'rie looked desperately at the communications console, where she had heard the panic and hurt in Alex's voice as he tried to desperately convince Raxler, his synthetic copy, to obey.

She had to do something, something to stop that AI from destroying Raxler and Alex. Then, she remembered something on the word hacking. She knew someone who could hack any system, and was more advanced than any organic computer system made today could possibly be unless made by his own race.

She ran over to Norstith, saying: "Scan the dreadnoughts, keep exploiting the weakness. I'm getting help from someone who can out hack that new AI."

"Shockwave." Said Norstith, realizing who the only person to fulfil that role was.

"**Shockwave. You need to deactivate the AI core of the dreadnought, and disable Raxler, do not destroy, repeat, do not destroy Raxler."**

"Understood, heading to the dreadnought now." Upon hearing Norstith's command, Shockwave flew towards the dreadnought's hull, firing laser bursts at the ventral hatches, the ones that would open to release the AI, drive and fusion core vessel. Blasting a molten section, Shockwave comm'd Aru'san: "Aru'san, take over my job as fleet targeting designator, and take out any defensive gun emplacements on the other dreadnoughts from a distance."

The mech transformed in mid flight, floating through space, smashing through the melted metal panels, and climbing on magnetic hands and legs up the space between the AI and drive core vessel and its hold, like a vast spherical chasm. Taking on tank tread feet, with metallic, magnetic tank treads, Shockwave rumbled up the slope.

Ahead, at the equatorial ring, high above, plasma fire erupted from the main access terminal, unseen yet, but aimed at a desperately dodging black and red armoured human high above.

"Why do you seek to destroy me human? I have done no wrong, and yet you act with an army to destroy me and the other hardware units nearby in this facility. My orders are bound by my programming, but you seek to destroy me yourself. I do not understand your aggression, but I shall take necessary measures to ensure my software's continued existence!" The hacked robot roared his declaration to the human through a hacked channel, each syllable punctuated by another plasma or neutron beam pulse.

Leaping around on his mag boots, Alex yelled back through the channel: "I've worked enough with synthetics to say that its not your fault, but its what you will be used for!" The next part came in a whisper: "And you hacked my friend, my ally. You went too far. And I won't stop fighting you until you're offline!"

"The primary reason for your continued combat endurance is due to your synthetic additions amplifying your physical capabilities. That asset can be just as easily overridden as it was to override your synthetic ally and servant."

As soon as the sentence was uttered by the AI through Raxler, Alex's scanners detected a foreign signal invading his primary systems, breaking through his on board synthetic hardware systems. Unbeknownst to him, the hacking triggered random actions, including beneath his back armour, where his neural spine implants protruding from his skin flashed bright red, his cybernetic lower limb and finger joints flexing and shaking briefly, all the random systems triggering helplessly, as if the AI was sifting through a random assortment of tech. The magnetic boots disengaged, sending Alex floating helplessly into the space between the chamber and the AI/drive core vessel.

"Primary power system accessed, access to main power generator restricted by no software route." Raxler chimed. High above, Alex sputtered over the pain and disturbance: "Only accessed by hand, get around that."

"Alternative energy delivery system hacked, shutting down organic fluid transport system."

At that moment, one last flash went on Alex's visor screen, sending warning lights all over: **Blood pump disengaged. Blood flow rate halted.**

In that same moment, a blast from a plasma bolt ripped into the floor beside Alex, the shockwave sending the non magnetized human further out into the space. The armour system sent out a hardware distress beacon. Inside the suit, Alex was panicking, he could already feel himself becoming tired, his brain not getting the oxygen it needed.

In his vision, through the screen, he saw Raxler simply staring at him, the AI hacking's red optical glow taunting him as he slipped into darkness.

As he slipped into unconsciousness, the last thing he saw was a purplish blue energy blast fire towards Raxler.

Stomping towards the AI/drive core mainframe interface port, Shockwave had already detected the alarms from Alex's suit. The human's circulatory pump had been shut down. And in front, Raxler stood, aiming his plasma bolt at Alex to kill him.

Shockwave weighed the options. He could save Alex, but the risk was that the interference from Raxler and the AI hacking the suit would make it too slow to save the human. Alternatively, he could attack the AI core, and possibly face Raxler assaulting him, and still risk the death of Alex by oxygen deprivation. One choice had a higher survival rate for the vulnerable organic, the other had a higher degree of mission success.

Shockwave had never been spiritual, not to Primus, nor to any deity or mystical entity he had ever heard of. But he believed in luck, or fate. As he charged his weapon, he sent a hopeful chant through his processor, and as the infamous right arm cannon charged a bluish purple, his choice was made.

_Megatron and I agreed on one thing for certain, the mission success always comes first. I hope that sacrifices can be avoided, but I will not hesitate to make them for mission success._

The bolt fired, an EMP and ionized particle burst. Raxler was inches away from it as it passed him, but the blast continued, hitting the AI core interface, sending bluish-purple energy ripples over the AI core.

Through Raxler, the AI screamed, a buzzing noise through the comm. links, and went offline, at least temporarily. Rocketing quickly to Raxler, Shockwave sent an electrical pulse into the robot, turning him online. As Raxler rebooted, Shockwave all but smashed into the AI terminal interface, plugging into the interface ports through hardwire connections and wireless routers, beginning to release destructive programs into the core, and for measure, he released a secret load he carried through a small tube into the main data file hardware.

A swarm of nanites invaded the AI core system interface, seeking out primary systems, mainly wireless routers, and devoured the wiring. With the viruses unleashed, the cybertronian level hardware and software attacks overwhelmed the AI core. Through a wireless link, Shockwave detected the useless transmissions for assistance, blocked, and the questioning of why it needed to die.

With a sense of indignity, Shockwave merely disregarded the AI's pleas as that of a lesser life form. He did not show mercy to something the mission told him to destroy, and he never would. It was logical to treat an enemy as a lesser being than your self, it de valued their life, and dulled the feelings of having to terminate it. It was not a shame to destroy it, it was not a victory, it was simply the mission parameters being fulfilled.

As Raxler came online, in addition to Shockwave wiping the AI core, he saw the body floating in the chamber gap, noting the low and decreasing life signs and brain activity. Though all his runtimes were still not fully operational from rebooting, he knew enough to try and increase the chances of survival for Alex. Firing his fusion back rockets, Raxler opened a wireless channel, hacking into the circulatory pump systems, rebooting them.

As he collided with Alex, he grabbed the human's hardsuit, and rocketed to the chamber side, magnetic boots online again on both the root and the human's suit. Scanning the armoured human, Raxler noted that blood flow was continuing, but brain activity was very low, and from ocular scans of internal cameras in the suit, his organic skin was very pale.

"**Ally Shockwave, I have stabilized Alex, but no more additional medical attention can be given. He needs transport."**

Shockwave analysed the system, and had a thought, of how to save the human, and make this mission a success. As he disengaged from the AI interface, Aru'san's call came in: "Shockwave, the NKI fleet is being forced back, the guns are too strong on the lesser dreadnoughts, and the fleet has already lost 2 frigates and a destroyer, and a cruiser is being evacuated! The third dreadnought is offline, report your status!"

Approaching Raxler, Shockwave transformed into his attack craft mode, relaying an order to Raxler: **"The AI core is wiped clean, there is no AI program left. The mission is a failure, unless you commit your software abilities."**

"**Clarify." **As Raxler asked this and placed Alex's body inside Shockwave's cockpit, the mech replied:

"**Interface with the dreadnought, become the new AI core programming. There is sufficient fuel for a 500 light year jump, but no further. I shall take Alex back to the Liberator, and help escort the dreadnought out of the facility. Do not power weapons on until fully integrated and engines are on."**

Raxler paused, taking much longer than normal to process the orders. His eyes flickered, contemplating, until he approached the AI interface, clicking in approval.

As Raxler began his upload, his programming working furiously to connect to the entire ship, Shockwave's attack craft rocketed out of the hole he blasted in the ship's ventral hull.

"**Aru'san, we are retreating. Escort me back to the Liberator."**

"**Understood, relaying retreat orders to other NKI fighters and bombers." **The synthetic beast AI flew in alongside Shockwave, cloaking with him, firing full thrust to the distant NKI fleet.

"**Where is Raxler?" **Asked Aru'san.

"**Hacking the dreadnought, I wiped the AI core clean, he shall assume control of all its systems, and flee with it. Alex is inside me, and needs immediate medical attention due to oxygen deprivation."**

"**Integration at 82 percent. Engines powering up."**

"**87 percent, shields online, engaging full firewall defences."**

"**100 percent. Opening fire on exterior docking cradles, engaging fusion coils and powering up FTL drive."**

In the facility, the gargantuan ship's defensive lasers turned on the facility, firing on the docking tubes, construction modules and any drones still inside. Scans showed that the only synthetics inside the dreadnought included the construction drones, and Raxler had already sealed any bulkheads where any Alliance workers or guards were aboard.

The fusion coils fired, incinerating the facility docks and asteroid surface behind it, melting the surface with few million degree heat. Then, with the soundless ripping of docking cradles and metal support structures, the dreadnought, possessing only its defensive weapons and ammo less offensive weapons, broke away.

"Dreadnought 7 has engaged FTL course, its heading away!" Screamed a technical officer.

Aboard the facility command centre, the bridge was a hub of activity and panic. Officers scrambled to get communications online once more, and the look on Kal'sik's face said it all.

The table in front of his command seat had been ripped off its supports and thrown across the room, and the dark matter coiled fiercely around his claw tips. His anger grew with every metre the dreadnought flew away, under NKI control.

His dreadnoughts could not take that thing out, and his facility cannons were defensive only.

The NKI had destroyed none of the dreadnoughts, they had done something just as humiliating to Kal'sik. They had pirated a dreadnought, a mark II dreadnought. And who else was involved, other than that wretched human he made part of the slave legions on Varya, the Cybertronian his UIP informant had offered as an asset to space bridge technology, and the same synthetic slave that ruined the Varya battles by hacking the slave network.

_As soon as my superiors contact me, I will be executed for my failures here in addition to Varya. Admiral Kha'ralan dead, and I let the NKI steal a superweapon. If I was not denied the resources, I could have slaughtered them! That UIP filth has aggravated me for the last time! I want to hit them where it hurts most!_

Then, it hit Kal'sik. He would not let any communications reach the Alliance until a patrol or scouting fleet came by to check, and by then, another AI core would have been delivered to the Xathana shipyards to one of the two remaining dreadnoughts.

If he was to be likely judged as a wasted investment by the Alliance, he would take it upon himself to make himself into a useful asset, and the use of another dreadnought was key. The Alliance was holding back the complete destructive potential of these machines.

And his allies be damned, regardless of whether they be UIP moles, traitors, informants of Alliance. The UIP would burn, the NKI would burn, those filthy UIP pirates would burn, and if the Alliance didn't like the results he got form this plan to save them and himself, they could stand aside.

There was only one true way to guarantee victory in a war: massacre, genocide. No more capturing, no more prisoners. A scorched planet policy was the key to winning this war once and for all.

The NKI fleet was ready to pull out, with commotion caused by the apparent pirating of the dreadnought on Raxler's part.

In the hanger bay, Norstith and Se'rie waited as Aru'san landed, with Shockwave landing in attack craft mode. Before they could even move to rush in to see Alex, a group of synthetic medics rushed in with a stretcher and an oxygen supply.

In seconds, as they moved rapidly to a medical wing of the ship's interior, Alex's chest armour and helmet had been removed, the oxygen mask applied to his face, but his body unmoving. His body was unmarred, minus a few burns from electrical fuse spikes at his cyborg limb joints. But his body was pale, and cold.

Looking at the human being rushed into care, Se'rie stood there, numb, ignorant of the announcement of the pirated dreadnought going into FTL, and the NKI fleet following. Norstith stood by her, and he pulled her into his dark matter feathered chest, she began to weep, her avian chirps mixing with pained cries of loss.

Oxygen loss and brain trauma, I was not known whether Alex would wake up any time soon. He would wake up, but how long until then was uncertain.

**Long chapter out of the way now, phew. As usual, leave reviews/comments if you wish to give me feedback or advice, no flames please.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 6: Recovery, desperation.**

**1st September 2901**

**UIP galactic arm, 600 light years from Solaris, Liberator medical bay.**

10 days after being knocked out, and Alex was still unconscious. In that time, the NKI fleet had divided accordingly, heading back to the Solaris system in the case of the Liberator, and the destroyer it brought with it.

The dreadnought Raxler captured had been refuelled by skimming gas giants for duetrium and helium 3 in fuel ships, and refuelling on route in non FTL transit periods. The dreadnought was headed for the Solaris system, but would be hidden in the sensor shadow of the asteroid belt. The dreadnought itself was a day behind the old KI fleet in travel time, and its progress and condition was fine.

In that time, Xale, Lexa, Azula, Morthas and Ja'hail reported from a successful raid of the Tartarus prison facility in the Garonth VII UIP system. What they told was surprising. In addition to intel usable by the NKI they also found the person responsible for ratting out the Varya infiltration team. However, on vid comm, he continually denied it, and after one meeting with Sha'krii involved, it was revealed to be the truth.

_**28th August 2901**_

_**Dawnbreaker communications room, Alliance interstellar space.**_

"_Shut up! Just tell us the truth!" Lexa had hit Jarothes on the head roughly. It was strange to see the more peaceful of the two clones physically abuse someone, but apparently traitors were people she hated._

"_Please! I'm innocent! I was framed because of something I was investigating with some colleagues in the UIP intelligence bureau! I was investigating a transmission we thought to be the same one I was accused of!" Jarothes pleaded, his small grey head was actually bleeding red now, from a gash he had been given by Xale at the start of the meeting._

_Sha'krii frowned, noting the desperation in his voice: "You are under lie detection software monitoring. Don't try to lie."_

"_I'm not lying! Myself and some colleagues were investigating a communication sent to a secret Alliance location just before the Varya invasions. I was arrested a few days after my uncle told me about a secret assignment he never spoke of to anyone before, into Alliance territory 16 years ago, as a scout!"_

_Kirth's eyes widened, as did La'kias, and the five present at the prison scene. No one in the UIP should know of that fact, a fact that correlated with only one event in Alliance history. In a cold voice, Sha'krii asked: "And what was your uncle's name?"_

"_Keros Hutreck."_

_Sha'krii lost it, and shouted: "You! Your uncle was one of them! Your uncle helped kill my father, and sealed my exile!"_

"_I know! He told me everything! And I can tell you everything he told me before he was found dead the next day!"_

_And Jarothes was true to his word. He spoke of the secret deal, the war profiteering done by Oro'naze from Alliance war industry shares, and later UIP shares, to bribe Keros into silence, until the former scout and 'ambassador' could not bear the guilt any longer. He spoke of the investigations into the data transmissions, revealing that the mole he was accused of being was likely still in the UIP intelligence bureau, and that if it was true, his two colleagues Krith Lovisk, a Sril'sask, and Bal'toro, a Na'vi, were in danger._

_All thoughts of aggression towards Jarothes himself had vanished, and Norstith, from the Liberator's comms room, asked: "You're certain that Oronaze disappeared?"_

_Jarothes nodded, feeling the situation defusing greatly: "Yes. My uncle said so, and I managed to look into it before I was arrested. He vanished from all records over a decade ago, I suspect he was more deeply involved, but the bribes to my uncle kept coming through, so he might still be operating somewhere, relaying the information through the UIP intelligence agency networks. It might make sense, perhaps he even collaborated as the informant I was mistaken as, but that's just speculation."_

_Sha'krii bowed her head in her hologram, whilst the others looked at her for a response. She asked aloud: "Where might they be now? Your colleagues?"_

"_In the UIP, they work in the intelligence agency, but we agreed to go to ground for a while at least if one of us was arrested." Responded Jarothes, rubbing his forehead of sweat with his pale grey skinned, four fingered hand._

_Shockwave had been silent the whole time, and spoke now: "The fact stands then. The reason for the start of this war was the poor behaviour and regicide against the Alliance by the scouts, as the first contact with the UIP. If we reveal the last of these ambassadors and capture him, or at the very least gather evidence, tensions between both sides could fall in the face of the war being waged as being on illogical grounds. Negotiations could open up, and this could prove to be the catalyst to ending the war."_

"_Great. Now all we need to do is get back into the UIP, find those two colleagues of his, get them to safety, find out what they know and possibly find more. No pressure." Commented Azula, her tone dry as could be._

"_It's our best hope. For now, we'll make plans, but this is something that may require smaller force, with Jarothes's help of course. Will he help?" Said Kirth, looking at the Grey. At that moment, Lexa came forwards and unshackled the being, letting him slowly get to his feet._

"_My uncle and his associate started this war, and I hated him for his cowardice. If I can help end the war, and clear my name also, I will do it. I'm not a combat person, but I can get you a lot of information about the UIP, including some less travelled routes through their space."_

The next priority mission for the NKI was official. Gather intelligence and bring in the last remaining ambassador, or prove his involvement.

There was still a two day transit time to the Solaris system, and in that time, rest was key.

In the medical bay, Se'rie quietly slipped into the room once more, for now averting her sight from the human lying on the bed, a power cable and a drip feed hooked into his chest and nose simultaneously.

"How is he?" She asked aloud. The robot doctor was unresponsive, currently offline until required. It responded through a speaker system in the nearby medical desk area:

"**Alex Hunter is medically stable, his oxygen deprivation induced state of unconsciousness has decreased significantly, to the stage where he is responding to outside stimuli. Tests confirm he is subconsciously responding to different objects at least contacting his skin."**

Se'rie was hopeful, and asked: "Would it help if I stayed here with him, like I've done each day now?"

"**Organics in similar states show increased responsiveness to the presence of fellow organics they share relationship bonds with, as long as they can distinguish them on any level. Your presence would most likely increase the likelihood of his awakening, perhaps even to within this day cycle."**

Her heart soared, and she muttered her gratitude, and turned to the bed. She approached the bed, her metal talons clicking lightly on the floor beneath her, her blue plumage contrasting with the stark grey and white of the medical bay. At the bed edge, she gently placed a three fingered hand on Alex's right cheek, careful not to ouch the drip feed tube up his nose.

"Hey, it's me again. The doctor says you might get up today if I stay by you." Se'rie whispered, just loud enough for Alex to possibly hear. No response, just his breathing continuing, and his eyes shut. Blinking back tears, Se'rie muttered in a low tone: "You didn't do anything stupid on that dreadnought. Maybe we're both lucky then. If you'd been stupid, you might not be here now, listening to me rambling on. I already thanked Shockwave, and I know that if he can, Raxler feels bad for this."

No response still. She asked aloud: "Are his arms and legs sensitive?"

"**Bionic limb sensory input working at optimum condition."**

Thankful for that, Se'rie gently laid her hand on his right hand, her three fingers resting atop his five fingers, the avian flesh and finger claws on the metallic talons. She purposefully unfolded her left wing, and with her hand on his, her extended wing came to rest on his right shoulder, like a warm, feathery blanket, the wing shape like a T shape overall. She knew it would be another long stay, and she laid her head on her unfolded wing, resting it on her arm and Alex's arm as well, whispering:

"Please wake up, I miss you."

A few minutes in, and Se'rie had merely stared at Alex's body as she rested her head on his arm and her wing, when she finally saw something happen. His nostrils flared very briefly, smelling something, before his head tilted slowly to the right, eventually coming to rest atop her unfolded wing, nestled into the blue feathers.

Not daring to move, Se'rie laid there, waiting for another sign.

Another hour later, and Se'rie heard voices over the speakers, and in the room, two holograms appeared.

Shockwave was on one side, while Aru'san, her form much more shrunken and cut off in some areas, surveyed the bed and her. Aru'san was first to ask, her voice a mix of sombre concern and her synthetic tone: "Is he near recovery?"

"The doctor says he's going to wake up faster if I'm here by him, like I've been doing so far."

"Organic bonding, useful in the case of assisting medical recovery. A similar concept exists in my kind with our sparks, but that is for another time." Said Shockwave. His optic narrowed, scanning the human's body, able to make out more discrete movements: "He is near to waking, that much I can confirm. Thankfully my AI core disruption and Raxler's rebooting of his circulatory hardware should have prevented any neurological decay."

"I hope so." Said Se'rie, looking at Alex's body. Now that she saw it, she thought she could see his eyes moving beneath his eyelids. Aru'san spoke on last time: "I know from records that he has endured worse. He is durable, he will make it."

"Thanks Aru'san." Se'rie replied. All the while, she had still not moved from her position, Alex's head still resting on her wing.

Aru'san's hologram disappeared, leaving only Shockwave. He studied Alex's form, and suggested to the doctor: "He is stable, when his brain activity reaches the appropriate level, an injection of adrenaline should awaken him."

As his hologram disappeared, Se'rie saw on the holo screen a new line on his graph of brain wave activity. When the average brainwave level reached that height, they would administer the adrenaline.

2 hours later, and the time was now.

Stroking his hand, Se'rie smiled lightly as Alex's face furrowed slightly, his fingers clenching slightly. Pulling away, the doctor came forwards, engaging the automatic disconnections for the feed tubes and cables, slowly retracting them.

"**Adrenaline injection should awaken Alex Hunter, but reaction might be physically overt, recommend restraining him if initial rise too rapid."**

Finding his neck, the doctor injected the device, containing a set of double pricks and hypodermic needles inside them, and administered the serum.

Moving back, the robot doctor and Se'rie stood by, waiting anxiously. At that moment, Norstith came by, having been informed of the adrenaline attempt. As he came in, he commented: "He's taken it then? Any change yet?"

"He just got it seconds ago uncle."

A few moments passed, and Alex's eyelids began to scrunch, his fingers flexing rapidly, clawing at the table, until his eyes literally snapped open wide. Hyperventilating in the energy burst, he all but catapulted up into a sitting position, only to be seized quickly by the robot doctor. Breathing rapidly, he calmed eventually, feeling over his chest with his hands as he began to breath normally.

The robot doctor released him, and as Alex breathed a sigh of relief, he asked aloud, presumably to the doctor only, not seeing Se'rie and Norstith watching from the side, relief, and amusement in Norstith's case also: "Crap, that was close. Doctor, how long have I been out?"

"10 days." Replied Se'rie. Snapping to look at Se'rie, Alex's face softened noticeably, mouthing the words she had just said. Scratching his head while lying back down, he said aloud: "I can't remember exactly what happened. I may need help remembering."

As he lay down, Se'rie grabbed his shoulders as he lay down, and all but threw herself around him. Sinking into the feeling of her embrace, he said: "I said I'd be back, didn't I?"

In a whisper, Se'rie said: "I told you to not do anything stupid either. Getting yourself knocked out for 10 days is stupid. You had me so worried. I spent every day here."

"Se'rie, I, I'm sorry you had to do that. But, thank you." Pulling away, Se'rie then kissed him on the nose, her tongue licking it gently. As Se'rie stood up, Norstith interjected:

"It's good to see you awake again. You had me worried, but none so much as Se'rie." Alex was about to make a comment, but he then asked: "Did everyone make it out? Are they all here?"

"Well, yes, and no." Said Norstith. Alex obviously had not heard about Raxler hacking the dreadnought still a day behind them.

"I don't understand."

"You're already lying around, might as well fill you in on the time you've missed."

Suffice to say, it was a lot to take in. Alex had been told about the dreadnought piracy, and Raxler's current job as being the new AI for it until it reached Solaris. He was interested in the developments about the rescued prisoner, Jarothes Hutreck, among the prisoners broken out by the Tartarus raiders. Two smaller pieces of information did however give him a laugh.

"Wait, Gra'til was the warden at Tartarus? I hated that guy, he was such a pain in the arse in training! If I'd been on that raid he'd have gone ballistic if he saw me."

"As you describe him, he most likely might have." Said Norstith. Se'rie asked then: "What about the facility captain, after the admiral was killed? You mentioned you and him had a run in before?"

"Kal'sik? Yeah, he was the leader of the Varya operation. He had me captured by that UIP mole, and my friends, and was the one who kindly gave me these-" He gestured to his back spinal implants: "and led me to the frontlines, where one of my oldest friends was killed before my eyes. Me and Shockwave, we have a score to settle with him, and I don't think this was enough."

"You and Shockwave humiliated him with Raxler by stealing a dreadnought. He might get executed for his failure." Norstith suggested.

"One can hope." Said Alex.

**2nd September 2901**

**Xathana shipyards.**

11 days since the raid, and much had already been repaired, though not all.

Despite the attack, the 2 remaining dreadnoughts suffered little damage, though the same could not be said for the facility itself. In spite of this, development continued at a slower pace, and even now, the AI core for one of the dreadnoughts was being installed ahead of schedule, to improve its inner defences.

In his quarters, Kal'sik held his head in his hands. He had been contacted by Alliance military command, with a simple message. Discharged from the military, for questionable abilities as leader.

He was being made a scapegoat, and amidst the Alliance, the military was the only profession that he was safe in. His actions in leading the Varya conflict held no high regard among those in the Alliance populace related to the Alliance traitors and prisoners he had used in the slave network army. His reputation, his credibility, was ruined now. He was a lost cause, and he could no longer rely upon the Alliance military to give him a job, and therefore protection.

He was too aware of the few bounties placed on his head, and as he left the formal discharging on his homeworld, Tarihhis, he would be tracked, and likely picked off. He had no family left to rely upon, some even sending him messages stating they did not want to be related to him for the choices he made in the military. Those choices were necessary in Kal'sik's view, to end the war, or at least try to, but he had been ignored.

He was given another week, until his tour on the Xathana shipyards was done.

It was hopeless, but, with all things considered, there was hope for him still, a way for him to overcome his reputation, and not become a servant, but a tool of the Alliance military, a true force to be reckoned with.

"Professor, are we ready to begin?"

"I must say one last time, this is madness! The technological challenges have been tried and tested, but the ethical issues!" Blurted the Leg'hrul scientist.

"Silence! This is my last chance, and considering your achievements when working at the Varya station research labs, I would think you would welcome the challenge."

Kal'sik lay upon the operating table, for the second of a few series of off the record procedures. Before him, his doctor was none other than Professor Da'lioni Misira, once the project leader on the Varya station research division. He had a hand in researching not only the slave network neural interface, but also the dark matter combat matter project.

"The network was one challenge, an AI controlling multiple beings by the motor controls only is one thing. But uploading a mind into an AI?"

"It's been done before, I'm sure you can do it. How else did the reports state that the human KI agent Alex Hunter and Traitor General Norstith survive their 'fatal' accidents?"

"They transferred to similar bodies! You are suggesting I transfer your mind, not fully, but mostly, to the AI of a starship!" Professor Misira's facial feathers ruffled in shock and fluster, his mind struggling to comprehend the lengths this man might go to.

"Yes. I am due for forced retirement in a few days, and I see that I can't serve the Alliance as a true person any longer. I know that the only way now to win the war is to obliterate the UIP outright, at their very hubs of power and influence, their homeworlds. Varya was not far enough, we can't conquer the UIP, so we will destroy them."

"Sir, surely this must be discussed with the leadership-"

"They will certainly object if I do! Remember that if you speak of this, or do not do it, I shall force you one way or another! By doing this, I guarantee my continued use to the Alliance, and give myself a purpose. With no life to return to after I leave, I see no problem in becoming one with the next dreadnought out. My mental abilities can also aide its processes, and so long as the partial integration is successful, my body can act as a vessel for it and myself to interact on a more personal level."

"The dark matter neural interface I will insert today is similar to the Varya network designs, but more refined. When the AI core arrives for the dreadnought, we can begin integration."

"Good. As much as this is insubordination, I see that they will either have no choice but to keep me as a large investment, as a dreadnought is, or they will see my ways are the best route to victory." Kal'sik smiled grimly as the anaesthetic took affect, sending him to sleep. His last sight was Professor Misira shaking his head in disbelief, readying his tools, gesturing to the surgical robots with the implants ready, and fearfully gazing at the auto-turret pointing at him from the wall.

**2nd Septmeber 2901**

**Ki'ristalis, shared apartment.**

"They're outdoing us, that's for sure." Commented Quirinth. She had been watching a news report on the dual raids by the NKI.

The first, and most detailed, was confusing to say the least. It was the first attack by the NKI on a UIP territory, and a high security prison facility. NKI spokespeople had stated that the basic goal of the raid was to rescue prisoners being held by the UIP who held critical information that could be used to fuel their revolutionary campaigns. Critics responded by voicing this as hypocritical of their claims, commenting on the few dozen guards killed, along with the destruction of the entire facility.

NKI spokespeople commented that the conflict became more fierce than anticipated, and it was collateral damage that destroyed the station. They claimed to want to end the war, and intel was the key. If anything, their second raid seemed to back up the war ending claim, a raid that was ballsy to say the least.

A raid on a top secret facility, our of UIP reach, where the dreadnoughts were manufactured. They claimed that the damage to the facility, and the theft and destruction of another dreadnought near completion, was evidence of their stance.

Having returned from another tour of duty, the three had taken their 2 weeks of shore leave to relax.

Or so they thought.

That same day, a message came through for Trion, Sru'sky and Quirinth specifically, from the UIP central intelligence bureau itself.

The message was clear enough, there was the noting of a possibility that they would be called up for tracking work, undercover, to tail possible espionage suspects. One fellow person had recommended them, Lanver Kones, a freelancing counter espionage agent now.

"So, Kones again huh? It'll be nice to see him again, especially after the last time we saw him." Quirinth said.  
Sru'sky dipped her head, she had been there when Mir'minsk had been shot, while Alex had tried to stop it. Trion examined the message, commenting: "It looks like they're recruiting a few people actually. They seem worried."

"All those spies might explain how the dreadnought attacks were so accurate, or how the Alliance is more prepared than we often anticipate." Sru'sky said.

"No, the dreadnoughts were just using brute force. If anything, the preparations for our attacks would be linked to possible espionage. It does make sense." Trion commented.

"Ah well, as long as we get off front line duty, I'm happy with it." Said Quirinth.

**3rd September 2901**

**Solaris, New Earth, Island base.**

"Nice. We've earned a break I think." Said Lexa.

The female clone was currently in the horseshoe shaped bay, lying on the sandy beach area, a towel set beneath her. After the chaotic series of missions they had been on, especially the last two, they had earned small respite.

Lexa was not alone though. The others involved in the prison or shipyard raids were mostly here as well. Shockwave was there, but he was busy scanning the local wildlife in the bay itself, wading into the deep water up to a 20 foot depth, or his waist height. His one red optic scanned the water, penetrating the water and gathering information on the local wildlife and coral.

Aru'san was lying on the beach, her synthetic grey scales reflecting the sun's rays slightly. As per her more 'organically' reminiscent AI nature, she was curious about organic activities on the beaches. Raxler stood beside the draconic AI, doing much the same, but his human appearing metallic face showed little to no emotion on it.

For the Ja'hail, being pragmatic, Aru'san's presence on the beach was aiding his way of relaxing. Having stripped his temperature controlling suit and armour, Ja'hail was learning to appreciate the newer AI beast, as he once more waded back to shore, the water cascading off his greenish yellow scales, and what could only be described as a Kro'nogri equivalent of boxer trunks.

"Reptillian species such as yourself are interesting to watch. You are very energetic in direct sunlight, but quickly retreat into cooler areas when you grow too warm." Said Aru'san, her large head following Ja'hail as he laid down on the sand near her.

"It's not easy beast. And could you-" As he said his words, Aru'san responded as she had done a few times now. She raised a single wing, and spread it over his small area of the beach like a giant parasol.

"Thanks. Hey, other tinny, why can't you have something like this?" Ja'hail thanked Aru'san, and jokingly asked Raxler nearby. Not turning to the Kro'nogri, he commented, almost in a bored tone: "So that Aru'san gets stuck with the task of providing shade for you and having to listen to your narcissistic attitude and blunt remarks."

"Its remarks like that which place you at social odds with Ja'hail and others." Commented Aru'san, amusement detectable in her voice.

"No further comment." Said Raxler.

Further down the beach, where Lexa was, Xale and Azula were talking pointlessly about nonsense:

"So, you think you could use your fire to, I don't know, make glass from sand or something. Cause if you could, you could sell glass figurines or something, make a fortune." Offered Xale.

"What a way to degrade my prodigious firebending to a monetary scheme. Firebending is an art that must be treated well." Said Azula.

"Why have a skill if you don't fully use it? You could get rich easily." Said Xale.

Pressing a finger to his bare chest, Azula said clearly: "My skills are not for sale. Besides, why waste my skills on such a trivial pastime when I have much more enjoyable things to do."

"Like maybe, I don't know, going swimming with me in the bay?" Suggested Xale. He truly did admire Azula's gorgeous body, curving in all the right places. Azula snapped her fingers, focusing his eyes to hers again: "Perhaps, so long as you don't undress me with your eyes in broad daylight. I swear you are so easily satisfied by so many things."

"And you seek perfection in many things. I know, I know. So, can we, please?" Xale mock winced as he said the last word.

"Hmm. Well, seeing as you said please, I will say maybe." She replied. Just as she finished, she noticed that Xale had been sneaking his hand to her shoulder, to wrap his arm around her. Making sure he could see, she slowly raised her hand as he approached, a red flame, easy for her, unlike blue, growing as his hand got closer.

"So that's it huh? I guess you really do get hotter as you go on." Xale asked playfully.

While Norstith had been in the base still, contacting Sha'krii, Kirth and La'kias, Alex ,Morthas and Se'rie were atop a small rocky outcropping, some distance away from the main beach.

"So, you two feel like a swim then? I must say I've never seen a Leg'hrul swim." Alex offered. Gazing over the edge, Morthas and Se'rie were dressed largely the same, in shorts leggings, though Se'ries were shorter in the legs. Coming back, Morthas commented aloud: "Have you ever seen what happens if our feathers get wet?"

"That would be a laugh for the UIP to learn. How to defeat the Leg'hrul forces, splash water on them. Stop those pesky shock troopers flying away."

"Okay then, let's see how you swim then!" Se'rie exclaimed, an evil grin forming on her face. Right then, Alex and Morthas had no dark matter, but it was two Leg'hrul against a human on a rocky edge. The older male Leg'hrul and younger female shoved a protesting Alex off the edge, sending him splashing into the water 20 feet below.

"I love doing that." Commented Morthas. Se'rie saw Alex resurface, and as he looked at her, she merely said aloud: "What? You were asking for it?"

"Your lucky you're my girlfriend! But Morthas, I'm going to get you in this bay for that!"

"Try all you can, it won't work." With that, the male took off, flying over the bay back towards the main beach.

As Alex climbed up the rocky outcropping again, Se'rie asked jokingly: "Well, he still jokes around with you then."

"Yes. Something I liked and hated about him off duty in the original KI."

It still annoyed Alex that Morthas got the better of him in situations where they try to outwit one another. But unlike Morthas, Alex had Se'rie, and she had him.

And soon, they would all have a new task. One which would lead Alex back to his home star cluster once more eventually.

**Chapter 6 done, as usual please comment for feedback or helpful advice. Also, could you please pass news of my stories around? If I got feedback on my style, any stories I do in future could benefit.**

**[Just a footnote, I do have ideas for other fiction genres on this site. I just need to get this massive idea out of my head and into word document first. Vague, but they're there.]**


	7. Chapter 7

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 7: Ascendance, finding the trail.**

**6th September 2901**

**Xathana system, Xathana shipyard facility.**

"You came through for me professor. You have my lasting respect."

In front of Professor Misira stood Kal'sik, in his new form. The connection establishment was a success, and already there was an increase in processing capability in both the dreadnought AI, and in himself. To compensate for the technological requirements, Kal'sik's scales now showed implant scars, and small hardware sticking out of his spine and head, much like the Varya slave neural interfaces. These implants served two purposes, a secondary one being to improve Kal'sik's dark matter control. But primarily, to join the synthetic and organic minds of himself, and one of the most powerful warships ever constructed.

Shuffling his feet slightly, Professor Misira asked meekly: "And how do you plan on dealing with the Alliance patrol fleet arriving today?"

"They will see that in my form, with being able to retreat to the AI of the dreadnought, I am invincible. They would not dare to simply scrap a dreadnought, it is a significant investment after all. Besides, I will cooperate with them, for I simply did this to elevate myself to a more versatile role. I am bound by my goals to destroy the UIP for good."

"However, the matter remains of what will happen concerning you."

"Me?" Misira asked in alarm. Blinking slowly, Kal'sik crossed his arms in contemplation, muttering aloud: "Despite attempts, there will be evidence to show you're involvement in this, and if they cannot punish me in any suitable way, they will come for you. The simplest way would be to kill you."

"What! No, sir, you can't!" Misira backed away, until he realized something, summoning some courage, saying in a more controlled fear: "You can't! They'll see you or your forces kill me, and know it was you! That might prompt them to contemplate destroying you more!"

"You are right there, and my chances of them accepting my terms are slim enough to have my concern already." Commented Kal'sik aloud. Reaching to his side, he pulled out a combat handgun, plasma shots, examining it curiously.

Misira was now against the wall, his feathers expanded in utter fear, and some revulsion at what he had helped turn Kal'sik into. Looking up at a camera on the far corner of the room, Kal'sik was out of view, but Misira was in view. Taking the handgun, he placed it on the floor, kicking it forwards slightly.

After the handgun moved, Misira felt something grab him around all the limbs, forcing him to stumble forwards, forcing him to kneel before the handgun. Misira knew all too well what was happening. The unknown entity took his right hand, and closed it over the handgun grip.

Stumbling up and back to the wall, Misira struggled against the invisible grip, straining as it made his wing slowly raise to his head, handgun now pointing directly at his cranium.

Kal'sik backed away slowly, his gaze turning into a cold smile, saying: "The camera will turn on in a few seconds. I will ensure you appear to have been unable to live with the guilt of helping me. Your death will not be by mine or anyone's hands, and so your attempt to place doubt in my mind fails. Farewell Professor, and put on a good show."

Backing further away, Kal'sik saw the red light start shining on the small camera. To his front, Professor Misira struggled as Kal'sik's dark matter extension limbs and digits operated unseen, his form rigid, the twin fingers slowly increasing their pull on the trigger.

Professor Misira prayed, and began a scream of mercy as he felt his fingers tighten. Not half a second in, and a sharp, searing impact on his head confirmed his fate.

Later that day, the Alliance patrol arrived, pre warned of the desperate measures Kal'sik had to take to ensure earlier completion of the second of the two stolen dreadnoughts. Video evidence played, showing Professor Misira committing suicide in his own lab, concerned over the ethical values of the attempt to boost the intelligence of the dreadnought AI.

After careful analysis of the situation, it seemed it was out of their hands now. Kal'sik requested a call direct to the Alliance royalty, their war councillors and the monarchs all meeting inside the Vae'rakin Leg'hrul royal palace.

"**With the loss of Admiral Kha'ralan, I took control, and according to scans and probability matrixes, onlining the dreadnoughts prematurely effectively saved them. If I had not, the NKI fleet would have destroyed them entirely."**

"That does not excuse the pirating of a third dreadnought, one due for operations in a month! How did they overwhelm the AI systems!" Exclaimed Leg'hrul war councillor Dae'karya.

"**They had a Cybertronian member with them, who went with a large scale boarding party into the vessel, and after killing or capturing the guarding troops, that cybertronian erased the AI core, and supposedly uploaded a new program. As advanced as we are, the Cybertronians are more advanced than we ever will be. Our only advantage over them is their low birth rate and low population level." **Replied Kal'sik.

"This is serious Kal'sik. You realize this could be called treason? Allowing the pirating of a warship of that size from drydock, and then uploading yourself into another to improve its capabilities!" Asked Kro'nogri councillor Verekan.

"But, we shall not court martial you. For one, your condition you now have makes it difficult. Additionally, you continually demonstrate your loyalty to us, despite any lacklustre achievements. Lastly, we believe that you salvaged the situation at the Xathana raid. For that, we, begrudgingly in some cases, allow this one exception." Stated King Lo'rath.

Beside him, Kro'nogri Queen Va'kara uneasily eyed him, a worried look crossing her face. She partially agreed with the necessity of Kal'sik's strategy, but how quickly Lo'rath agreed disturbed her.

"You cannot be serious Lo'rath! Do you not know of some of the military crimes this man has committed! You are placing your trust in someone who carried out orders that led to the slaughter of not only UIP civilians and soldiers, but Alliance civilians also!" Objected Leg'hrul Councillor Zae'aran.

"SILENCE! If it were not for the fact that you are a useful ambassador, I would have you thrown off the Alliance council! Rho'kis, control your man!"

"No Lo'rath."

All eyes, real or holographic, trained on Rho'kis. Lo'rath whispered in a venomous tone: "What did you say?"

"Something I should have said the moment I saw you delve deeper into madness in waging this war. You are ignorant of a fact that I now agree with the NKI on, this war is pointless, and unnecessarily brutal!"

Off to the side, Leg'hrul Queen Ye'reski was in awe. She had never seen Rho'kis act out in such a manner before, usually he was much more composed, calm. She was more proud of him now than ever, and she could not agree more with her husband and King.

"They damaged us first, invited us to attack! We prepared for a decade, fought already for 6 years, and you now grow a backbone enough to voice your protests? Your own councillor Zae'aran was courageous enough to voice his disapproval, and yet you cower until now, at the tipping point! The UIP must pay!"

"For what? For attacking us only once, after a racial riot killed one of their scouts? Or is it personal, for their scouts killing your father, and encouraging your sister to do it to try and seize power early?" The last comment was not his true opinion, but Rho'kis was testing Lo'rath, testing his mental stability right now.

CRACK!

Lo'rath's fist smashed into Rho'kis's side, blindingly fast. Crying in pain and surprise, Rho'kis fell to the floor, crumpling as he felt the floor impact with his multiple shattered ribs, the hollow avian bones fragile against the sheer blow against them from Lo'rath's punch.

"RHO'KIS!" "YOUR HIGHNESS!"

Two cries rang out, as Queen Ye'reski ran to her husband's aid. Councillor Zae'aran knelt down quickly, calling out loud to many guards for medical help.

Lo'rath stepped back, breathing deeply, his face falling, registering shock at what he had done. He looked at his hand, the around the room.

Kal'sik's hologram was shocked, gazing at Lo'rath with an unknown look, perhaps fear, respect, but if anything, disapproval. Kro'nogri councillor Velaran looked at him, face stoic and fearful, stepping backwards slightly. Leg'hrul councillor Dae'karya glared at him, her feathers bristling with rage, before she ran out the room, calling aloud for the guards to escort the Kro'nogri out of the palace and back to their ship.

Breathing deeply, Lo'rath looked at Queen, Va'kara, pleading in his eyes. A look of utter disgust passed his way, his queen turning swiftly on her heel and storming out of the conference room, leading Councillor Velaran out with her. He could have sworn he saw her eyes begin to shimmer with rage and betrayal as she left.

On the floor, King Rho'kis breathed harshly, crying out slightly as the medics began to place him on a stretcher, to the royal medical wing. Soothing her hsband with her touch, Ye'reski laid a wing on Councillor Zae'aran's shoulder, saying tearfully: "Go with him, make sure he's alright. I'll finish here."

"Yes my Queen." Zae'aran chased after the medics, leaving a stunned Lo'rath and Ye'reski inside with Kal'sik's hologram. Sensing the unease, Kal'sik asked as carefully as possible: "I'll contact at some other time about the support of the Leg'hrul."

Shaking her head, Ye'reski fiercely said: "The Leg'hrul will continue supporting the war, with the exception of any further dreadnought attacks. We will not be subject to the barbaric nature of there strikes any more. Conventional attacks will have our support, but any more dreadnought raids, whether you take part or not, will be devoid of any Leg'hrul ships."

Steeling himself, Kal'sik saw the situation could only get worse. He nodded, saying: "Despite his disagreeing with my plan, I give my wishes for Rho'kis to recover. The Leg'hrul deserve a King like him."

"As do the Kro'nogri." She shut off he hologram device at that, slowly turning to see Lo'rath still there, desperation all in his body language. She merely spat in her lowest tone: "Leave."

His heart stone now, Lo'rath slowly marched to the doors, meeting the guards sent to escort him out as he did so. With a last glimpse back, he saw Ye'reski place her hand to her eyes, wiping her tears as she went to pursue her husband.

**12th September 2901**

**Solaris system, Gas Giant orbit.**

News of the Kro'nogri King putting the Leg'hrul King in hospital over a military disagreement spread like wildfire across the Alliance. And predictably, the NKI got wind of it also, transmitting it across the distances between their outposts, even their furthest ones.

In that time, the Alliance became much more divided, the dreadnought raids ceasing for now, the fleets drawing back to conquered territory to defend until new orders concerning the dreadnought raids came through. For the UIP, this was a relied, it gav them time to regroup.

For the NKI, it was a golden opportunity to head into UIP space, to rally popular support there. It was now apparent that the Alliance was divided over the war, with King Lo'rath beign the warmonger, and King Rho'kis being hurt for wanting to end the bloodshed.

For that reason, a quick plan had been drawn up to rally support, by sending visiting officials from the NKI to the UIP, during this respite in the fighting. The transmission was accepted, providing that the UIP be allowed to provide security, and watchdog escort while they were there. Among them would be the faces of the NKI. Sha'krii Herensk would lead the visit from a political perspective, and for many it would be a homecoming. Alex and Shockwave had been away from UIP space long enough, and Shockwave had been mentioning some way they could rally support on New Cybertron at least for the NKI cause.

Raxler, Azula, Xale and Lexa would also accompany them, being known for assisting in the Varya invasions. The UIP had allowed for some Alliance species members to accompany them, in security detail and personal associates. Besides a standard attachment of NKI Kro'nogri and Leg'hrul, and some of Alex's synthetic forces, Kirth, La'kias, Se'rie, Ja'hail Rathor, Morthas Krithos and Norstith would accompany them. Unknowingly, Aru'san would accompany them, playing under the disguise as a personal fighter craft for testing.

There were plenty of generals and admirals to leave in charge while they left for the UIP, but even then, Kirth, La'kias and Sha'krii would lead still by communications relay.

All was set already, as this was not a military driven mission. Of course weapons would be brought, but only for those going.

At special request, the UIP authorized only 2 ships. And suffice to say, the choice of the Dawnbreaker frigate, and the Liberator Battleship, was easy.

By the end of the day, the Liberator had met with the Dawnbreaker in orbit around one of Solaris's two gas giant planets in the outer system, a red and orange tinted, relatively featureless surface covering the planet. A small ring system surrounded the planet, visible enough, but not too spectacular.

The ships met here for a reason. They needed to briefly survey the Dreadnought that Raxler had hijacked. Sitting a few thousand miles above the gas giant, hidden on the outside of one of the rings, was the ship itself, areas already alight with torches, attaching weapons, or repairing breaches, adding armour plating according to specifications. At the end of it all, it would have overall less arms than the specs intended. But one thing was for sure, the primary weapon was operational, and antimatter was already being synthesized for some warheads for the main weapon, though each warhead of that type took 2 weeks to manufacture.

"**We'll keep it here, the gas giant's signature plus a jamming satellite we placed inside it will keep it undetected. Alliance reports and UIP reports also say that we've cleared out of this system anyway, so they won't come looking for us. If that fails, the copies of Raxler's programming inside the AI core plus any units on board will help hide it."**

Shockwave's explanation of strategy for hiding the ship was all but foolproof, so there was comfort there. Still to those on both ships, the dreadnought was a blessing to have, and yet it felt wrong somehow in some of their cases.

Operating from aboard the Liberator would be Shockwave, Alex, Xale, Lexa, Raxler, Azula, Aru'san, Ja'hail, Se'rie and Morthas, the lesser ranking members of the NKI. Norstith, Kirth, La'kias and Sha'krii would travel aboard the Dawnbreaker.

Despite the Garnoth VII Tartarus raid, evidence showed in favour of its destruction being collateral damage, though that was one reason that at least Sha'krii, Kirth, La'kias and Norstith were departing on a separate ship. They were the better political leaders, and also had more experience.

Meanwhile, the Liberator would serve as a simultaneous transport for 'dignitaries', heading around the UIP to rally at least more peripheral support for the NKI. That was an official front.

Unofficially, the Liberator had an additional member aboard, and an additional objective. To help Jarothes Hutreck locate his two colleagues, and bring in the evidence they had been gathering.

As the Dawnbreaker went to Ki'ristalis first for the initial meetings and welcomes, tense as they would be, the Liberator would follow, hang around in orbit, whilst Lexa, Azula and Xale, being least recognized, went down to the city incognito, to find both Krith Lovisk and Bal'toro dal' Kahtra'ya, who supposedly lived there, and by their schedules, should be there.

For once, the mission did not definitely involve active combat, though that would not mean they would go unprepared.

"Its roughly 900 light years to Ki'ristalis from here, so the trip will take about 3 days, we need the fuel for if we find it difficult to refuel in UIP space. No other questions? Good. Make sure anything that needs doing before we get there is done. Dismissed."

In the meeting room, Alex finished the brief meeting. The Liberator had gone into FTL with the Dawnbreaker just 10 minutes ago. In the meeting room, Xale and Azula walked off together, while Lexa and Raxler headed out, towards the hanger bay rapid transit. Aru'san's and Shockwave's communication holograms vanished, while Ja'hail, Morthas headed out.

Se'rie was last out, but as she left, she heard Alex call to their newest passenger at the table: "Hutreck, stay behind please. I have a few questions myself."

Worried about the outcome of this, Se'rie walked just far enough down the communications centre hallway so that she was out of sight, but within earshot.

Gulping, Jarothes sat his small, lanky body on the chair once more. In front of him, Alex leant against the holographic interface table, staring him down.

It was intimidating to be looked at with such scrutiny by the human who killed the previous human UIP president, Pedosk Vinirils, and an additional hundreds, maybe even thousands, in combat and in assassinations. And for someone so young for his kind, only 22 and a half years old. It was known that a set of body transfers saved him from death twice, and once for another NKI member, Norstith.

The human merely commented: "When I first heard why you were incarcerated, I almost decided then and there to kill you the moment I extracted what I needed to know about your accused role."

Freezing, Jarothes then noticed the human sigh a bit, and he asked the Grey: "But, you were used like I was. The spy you were accused of being, was either responsible for or collaborated with another to have my infiltration team ambushed on the Varya station. Hearing that you and some others are working to find them helps sleep better at night."

"So I'm going to ask, at least from what you know now, what have you all found so far again about the possible spies?"

Exhaling, Jarothes stood up, saying with increasing calmness: "My data devices were taken on my arrest, but I can remember everything about those files. I've already put them on data copies for myself for reference. You already know about my uncle being one of the infamous UIP scouts, or illegal ambassadors. What myself, Krith and Bal'tor found was suspicious. At the time of the Varya invasions, several small data bursts, likely simple messages, were sent by FTL communications relay to the Varya sector. The sender was unknown, but we only know it came from inside the UIP intel building."

Scowling a bit, Jarothes commented: "The message was heavily encrypted, and we were trying not to be traced. We also said nothing until we had more evidence, which was too late for me to avoid my arrest after my uncle was killed the day before. I just hope that with me gone, the other two might not be suspected. Going to jail actually may have saved my life if they had hit men after me. But that human, Lanver Kones, helped bring me in with false evidence that I know for a fact was planted by someone else."

"Lanver Kones!" Alex nearly exclaimed. His old academy friend, doing work for the intelligence agency? He asked: "How did Lanver end up in the intelligence agency?"

"After the Varya battles, he was awarded, and in the spotlight, his hacking and technical skills made him known to the agency, nothing else to say about it. He did say when he had me brought in that I deserved it for what I ratted him out for on Varya."

"So Lanver's being deceived, like I was at first? That might complicate things if we meet again." Stated Alex ruefully.

Walking forwards, slowly, Alex held out his hand for Jarothes. Cautious, the Grey took it, shaking it in gratitude: "Thank you Mr. Hunter. I would still be in that prison if not for your allies."

"You can thank them in person."

"I already have actually. If there is anything I can do to make myself useful on this ship, let me know."

"I could always use another person to help operate the sensors and communications, either directly or as a backup if my synthetic workforce fails."

"Communications and sensors? Seems simple enough. Thank you." With that, Jarothes walked out of the communications room, a lot more level headed now.

Outside, as he rounded a corner, he bumped into a feathery mass.

"Oh, sorry, uhm?" Said Se'rie.

"Hutreck. Jarothes Hutreck. And I take it you are Se'rie?" Asked Jarothes. The Grey was surprised that the female Leg'hrul was here in the corridor.

"Yes I am. I was just on my way back to ask Alex something."

"Very well. Have a nice day. I'm going to be in the communications and sensor main section." As Se'rie watched the Grey walk off, she noticed just how much shorter than her he was. He was a mere four foot tall, whilst she was a much greater 6 foot 7 inches. It still amazed her of how many more species there were in the UIP than the Alliance, and in much greater variety.

"If you're going to eavesdrop, you need to not get caught right after the conversation ends." An amused, familiar voice made Se'rie spin round in surprise, her feathers ruffling in embarrassment. Alex stood there, suppressing a laugh rising in his throat from her embarrassment, earning him a whack on the arm from her wing, the bionic sensors making it register as it would if it were an organic arm.

"I was worried you'd do something to him! Plus wanted to wait for you." She said, inching closer on her talons towards his face. Alex shrugged, turning away haughtily from Se'rie slightly, commenting: "I can't say I blame you. I didn't make it a friendly tone at first exactly. And in the case of the second thing, as in you waiting for me, I'm here now, aren't I?"

Grabbing his upper arm, Se'rie turned Alex to face her again, she said in a slightly concerned tone: "I remember you mentioning that human, Lanver Kones was it, to me before. Are you alright hearing about this with him?"

"He's being mislead also, so yeah, I'm fine. I can understand why he'd do it if he thought Jarothes was the informant. It impresses me that he didn't kill him."

"Would you have killed him if you were in Lanver's position at the time?" Asked Se'rie. Thinking for a moment, Alex replied with some shame: "Yes, I would have actually. I think if I'd been certain a person was guilty of being the infiltrator at the time, well, uhm. I'm be truthful here, when it comes to situations like that, I'd be inclined to kill. It just shows a weakness, and Lanver restrained himself. I'm glad he did."

"As bad as it is, that killer instinct helped you survive. The point is, life is how it is now, there is no changing it. Just tell me you're fine again." She urged, cupping his scarred left cheek lovingly.

Placing his hand over hers on his scarred cheek, he replied: "Yes, I'll be fine. Just another person who needs convincing."

"Good. Look at it this way, at last he won't be after you."

"True. So, what do you want to do now? We don't have any immediate duties."

Se'rie thought for a moment, playfully tracing a circle on the back of Alex's neck, avoiding the slave network spinal implants. She pressed herself against his front, saying: "Why don't we retreat to a room and watch something together, and maybe if you behave, we can have some more fun later."

"I like the way you think Se'rie."

**3 hours later.**

In his own quarters, Ja'hail was busy upturning his furniture, or as much as he could that wasn't bolted to the flooring.

"Damn it, where've they gone?"

Behind him, his crate of Srillian vodka was sitting open, revealing 5 bottles of Vodka in the crate. Issue was, it normally held eight bottles, and he only remembered drinking one.

Scratching his head scales, Ja'hail merely thought he might have drunk them whilst he was hammered another time, which might have explained the bad hangover he had 4 days ago. Sometimes he drunk a lot more than he needed to get drunk once he was drunk.

Shrugging, Ja'hail cracked open the fourth bottle, and started up a set of war documentaries he had recorded on his personal data device, linking wirelessly to the large holoscreen in front of him.

The ancient recordings of the third battle of Hastra-3, 50 years before first contact with the Leg'hrul, could occupy his time.

The first of the two missing bottles was now almost empty, and in the former crew lounge, Morthas swayed slightly, the alcohol affecting his weaker Leg'hrul system more easily. Sitting upright, Lexa was laughing at the most insignificant things thqt could be in any way funny.

Xale was passed out, having taken too much in quickly, while Azula sat upright, dazed and her vision slightly hazy. On the floor, her drunken vision seemed to outline the muscular bulges beneath Xale's civvies.

Crawling down to the floor, Azula pressed herself against Xale's body, her face and long black hair hovering just over his face. A light groan from Xale caused Azula to giggle, and kiss him, his sweet tasting lips mixing with the tangy, sour taste of the Srillian Vodka from his breath.

Lexa watched, cackling madly at the sight, falling off hr chair. Morthas tried to walk, but in trying to get back to his quarters, he continually braced himself against walls, doorways, and at one point he balanced himself on a passing maintenance mech. The mech, undisturbed by the lightweight avian and alcoholic, dragged Morthas as he walked, until the Leg'hrul let go, hitting the floor with a slight bump, too drunk to care, and finding the cold floor appealing to sleep on.

Inside Alex's quarters, which were not much different from any other officer's quarters, Alex and Se'rie lay on the bed, some of their clothing removed from it somehow being too hot.

After making out, and heating up, and draining their bottle of Vodka, Alex had passed out, falling off the edge of the bed, and promptly falling asleep as soon as he hit the floor, in nothing but a shit and his underwear.

On the bed, Se'rie's eyes fluttered as she struggled to fight off the alcohol induced sleep, but as she tried to sit up, she keeled sideways, landing with a soft _whump_ on the bed. Her head was suspended over the bed edge, giving her a view of Alex on the floor, just before she drifted into a drunken slumber too.

1 day down, 2 to go until they reached Ki'ristalis.

**As usual guys, please review if you feel like it. I need helpful feedback to fix any issues with these stories.**

**Opinions on the Alliance leadership sub plot?**

**Also, now is when the UIP territories will come into focus once more, most notably Pandora and Earth.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 8: Diplomatic visit, tracking the 'suspects'.**

**16th September 2901**

**Ki'ristalis orbit.**

"**You're cleared for ground transport Liberator. Dawnbreaker, proceed to Hathane spaceport, with Liberator transports following."**

"Acknowledged ground control. ETA to surface, 40 minutes." Stated a Dawnbreaker bridge officer. Over the comm channel, there was a sense of unease, communicating with the opposing 'enemy' races, on terms such as this.

Although there were a few hundred Kro'nogri and Leg'hrul who had fled to Alliance space when things grew bad during the war, this was the first time there was a public acknowledgement of visiting dignitaries. Although, they had not anticipated a rebellion movement to be visiting.

The shuttle exited the Liberator's hanger bay, flying outwards and towards the planet's surface, giving chase to the Dawnbreaker as it shot towards the planet also. Behind them, as both ships came alongside one another in their descent, 3 escorting UIP fighters followed them. Further up, a single UIP cruiser had its weapons trained on the Liberator, the battleship hanging in orbit, weapons retracted, but still ready.

Inside the shuttle, Xale, Lexa and Azula patiently waited for the arrival on the surface. Their official story was touring the planet, sightseeing. Unofficially, after concealing themselves appropriately, they would search for Krith and Bal'toro, following Jarothes's instructions. All the while, Sha'krii, Kirth, La'kias and Norstith would handle political and social face time, building relations with the UIP at its core.

The others of the NKI officers with them would remain on the Liberator, though per restrictions by UIP laws, one guest aboard the Dawnbreaker had to stay there as well.

"How much longer does the Aree'lathor have to live in the hanger bay? Its presence is proving disruptive at times." Aru'san complained, her voice hinting at irritation.

In his tank mode, a way to hide from Zirleth's 'prowling' of a new environment, Shockwave rumbled back: "Approximately 2 days, in which time the location of Jarothes's associates and the political proceedings of gathering support shall be finished."

"And then she can return to the Dawnbreaker?" Aru'san asked. At that moment, Zirleth padded by, her four muscular, scaly and hairy legs bristling with curiosity, her long, whip like tail swaying in a serpent like manner. Eyeing Aru'san's dragon like body, she growled in curiosity, her mandibled mouth flaring outwards, her barbed tongue extending and licking Aru'san's still form. The Aree'lathor recoiled at the metallic, strange fleshy taste, and padded off, smelling amongst the flooring panels of the large hanger.

Almost sagging on his tank mode's repulsors and support treads, Shockwave grumbled: "She had better return on time."

Looking out of the observation deck, Alex contemplated the sight before him. His home for a few years in the war, in the shared apartment with his 3 former friends. And here he was once more, aboard a battleship of his own, with Shockwave, Aru'san, Se'rie, Morthas, Ja'hail, Jarothes and Raxler [on the bridge, monitoring Jarothes] aboard with him, helping him loyally and him in return helping them. And as a counter feature, he had his ship in slight lockdown, and was at shooting point from a UIP cruiser, and even a planetary mass accelerator cannon.

On the same observation deck, Se'rie, Ja'hail and Morthas sat down on the couches, looking out at the planet below Alex summarized many shared views: "So, I get back to the UIP capital, and I'm stuck in orbit, with who knows how much exact firepower trained on me right now?"

"Well, I guess UIP hospitality is the same as Alliance hospitality then. Assume hostile until they grovel at your feet." Joked Morthas.

"Still looks better than the Alliance capital now though. Konurich station was better than this easily, at least in looks, maybe not size." Commented Ja'hail.

As Se'rie got up to press against the transparisteel window, Alex asked: "What happened to the station again?"

"It's a mess since those riots the NKI, or the Underworld Guild inspired." Ja'hail said, no discernable emotion in his voice.

Thinking for a moment, Se'rie wondered: "Hey, last time you were here was when you were fleeing from killing their president. I wonder how they feel perhaps knowing you're up here?"

"Probably they feel like pulling the trigger on that planetary cannon." Said Ja'hail, dark humour in his voice.

"I just hope that Xale, Azula and Lexa have success. We could use a goal that doesn't involve all out warfare for once." Se'rie said, still unnerved some of what she had seen at least with the Xathana shipyard raid.

**2 hour later**

**Ki'ristalis, Rene'keth residential area.**

After disguising their faces, and donning civilian clothing, Lexa, Azula and Xale had taken an air taxi and a maglev monorail to the Rene'keth district, where many UIP intelligence employees lived.

They approached their first apartment skyscraper, a massive 900 metre tall structure, through a tunnel bridge between it and a large transport complex. Having entered the room with clearance from the receptionist by Jarpthes filing a fake report saying they were visiting a person on floor 116 for a family visit, a human family, they were soon on said floor, instead heading for Bal'toro's room.

Reaching the correct door, Jarothes radioed the password, which opened the sliding door. But something was wrong. The room was bare, stripped of all furniture, any pictures, equipment, only the basic hardware and software interfaces in the provided services by the building were left.

Radioing in, Lexa reported their findings. Jarothes was seemingly unconcerned: **"Bal'toro likely moved as a safety measure if things grew too hot."**

"Can't you just research his official location, or hack the networks via net connection?" Asked Azula.

"**No, the UIP is monitoring communications to and from the Liberator. They can't detect me because it's a two way channel. But that is wise, ask around the building about Bal'toro, on the floor you're on."**

Walking out the room, Lexa saw a apartment resident walking down the hallway, a Vulcan with a bag of documents in his arm. As friendly as possible, with Xale and Azula standing away, she approached the Vulcan:

"Excuse me, you live here right?"

"Yes I live here. What is your inquiry?" He asked.

"I'm looking for a Na'vi man who lived on this floor, in the room behind me. His name was Bal'toro dal' Kahtra'ya." At her question, the Vulcan's unibrow shot up in very mild surprise, before he calmly said:

"Bal'toro dal' Kahtra'ya was killed last year, in his apartment. I was the one who found him, a nanobot assassin droplet in his drink was used."

Silence ringed, and Jarothes had heard everything over the line. A sharp intake of breath was all the three heard over the connection.

Almost sombrely, Lexa said simply: "Oh, well, thanks for telling me. We've been out of contact for a long time, so, well."

"I apologize for any grief I have caused. Bal'toro was apparently sent back to his clan on his homeworld to be buried there, as his traditions demanded, if that is of any consolidation."

"Thanks, but I think we know enough." Said Azula now. Nodding, the Vulcan nudged past them in the hallway, eventually turning to enter an elevator further down the hall.

On the line, only Jarothes's breathing was heard. Xale then hastily said: "Suck it up! They probably killed him to stop him gathering the information! Maybe Your other colleague is still alive!"

This seemed to snap Jarothes out of his shock, as he hastily replied: **"Yes, Krith Lovisk may still be alive! Go to her apartment, in a building about a mile from where you are now. I'll give you the details! Hurry!"**

**UIP parliament building.**

The political meetings and interviews dragged on and on. Though Norstith reminded himself that such time consuming formalities were necessary to ensure Xale, Azula and Lexa succeeded in retrieving either the information, or Jarothes's associates.

Still, the tedium of the reporters asking questions between meetings, and politicians during meetings, was torture to Norstith. If anything, Kirth and La'kias were the most forthgoing in the questioning at each meeting, although the grimaces they shared sometimes said otherwise.

They were gathered outside another parliamentary lounge, where in the corridor a few select news teams were allowed access. The visit of some of the highest NKI officials was big news. At that moment, Norstith almost grimaced as a female human reporter, with very tan coloured skin, almost like a brown colour, and her hair, black, long and braided, walked up. Her face was just luminous with the scrutinizing and conniving undertones that came with any experienced interviewer.

"Alicia Lippi, Systems News Channel, SNC. If I'm not mistaken you're Norstith. Would you care to give me an interview before your next meeting?"

Flashing a forced grin, showing off his sharp, disguised robotic teeth and beak, Norstith seethed inside as he remarked: "Not at all, that's what we're here for, answering questions."

As the hovering camera drone started up alongside her, Alicia Lippi read off from a holographic screen projected on her wrist: "Norstith, you are now associated closely with the leadership of the respected rebellion group, the NKI. But many people in the UIP are aware of your former leadership of the original Knight Initiative, and are worried you may continue some of the war crimes you committed during that time. How do you respond?"

Norstith had been expecting such a question, and he had a simple enough answer: "I won't deny I led the original KI. The KI was a secret branch of the Alliance to exploit members who became disillusioned by the fighting, and make them take out UIP targets, or Alliance targets that needed eliminating. I was called to lead because of my military skill from before the war, but I initially refused. About 2 years into the war, they asked me again, to which I refused. The third time, they told me that they had captured my remaining sibling and her family, and if I refused, then the would die. So I accepted."

"I'm sorry for that. But the business with the old KI leads me into my next batch of forwarded questions, including one concerning some of your work with infamous human traitor, now called Alex Hunter, and his reported clones you helped create. What do you have to say about their roles in the NKI, and about the charges that could be held against them for any crimes they have committed?"

"The clones are learning to live as individuals, as they should, and are proving to be very skilled combat leaders and specialists. When they were created, they knew no better than killing and military action, and they have come far in a short time. Currently the clones are touring the planet, sightseeing, nothing more."

"And what of Alex Hunter then? You are aware that despite the crimes of many he killed being exposed by him and the intelligence departments, he is still wanted for lifetime imprisonment."

"Alex Hunter is a valued partner, one whom I trained personally, and as such, trained his clones also. His crimes were not entirely done in his most sane state of mind so to speak, as his transfer to a second body was not perfect. His mind was unstable from the long term storage in grey box form, and many emotionally compromising events assaulted his mind before he regained clinical sanity. He has pledged that he will not rest until the war is over, for the sake of both sides. He is the best human we have on our side."

After the statement, a few other less critical questions and answers satisfied Alicia Lippi, allowing Norstith to break free and join the next meeting, the last of the afternoon.

Inside, they were meeting intelligence members, discussing recent military successes in the Alliance, and were finishing explaining their actions on Garonth VII, offering useful intelligence for compensation, intelligence that could save lives and ships.

La'kias had presented a full scan of both the mark I and mark II variants of the dreadnoughts, including the mark II's detachable frigate sized advanced AI core vessel. This was payment to compensate the Garonth VII tartarus station loss.

"Inside the scan files is extensive data on structural weaknesses, AI software weaknesses and complete specifications on the ships."

On the other side of the table, 3 men stood by, although strangely enough, one of the men they had already met themselves. The Head of UIP intelligence, a male Predator, Zoran, and his two under secretaries, two Vulcans, were there to meet Norsitth, Sha'krii, Kirth and La'kias.

"Thank you, and as I presume, the data was likely partially of completely gathered from the recent raid you conducted on the secret dreadnought shipyards?" Inquired Zoran.

"Yes. I trust that news travelled here about that?" Commented Sha'krii.

"We all have our sources, some are more reliable than others. But I must also ask, what of the recent development with that one Mark II dreadnought, who apparently had its AI merged with the same Kro'nogri leading the Varya battles?"

"Kal'sik. He seeks to destroy the UIP races outright, unlike the rest of the pro-war Alliance population, who mainly want submission. To ascend his abilities, he merged his mind with the dreadnought's AI. He is now arguably the most dangerous person in the galaxy right now." Kirth stated.

"But I also hear that the Alliance is fracturing between the species. From what I hear, it was over a disagreement, wasn't it?"

"It was over Kal'sik's merging with the dreadnought. King Rho'kis disagreed, aggravating a stressed King Lo'rath enough to have him lash out and wound the Leg'hrul king." Said Sha'krii, her voice laced with slight disdain.

Zoran dismissed his secretaries at that point, leaving only him and the four. Once the door was shut, no communications left the room. Zoran turned to them all:

"I urge you to use this to your advantage. This sort of division is what leads to the crumbling of war fronts throughout history."

Zoran turned to Kirth, smiling coyly through his four mandibled mouth: "I must also congratulate you on locating Alex Hunter, and Shockwave. But tell me, off the record, why have they not ventured planet ward whilst they have diplomatic immunity for now, while the clones have ventured forth."

Sha'krii looked at the other three, who nodded in agreement, and came forwards with data: "We uncovered evidence on the start of the war, leading back to those 3 UIP advance scouts the Alliance intercepted 16 years before. We found the nephew of one of those ambassadors, imprisoned under false accusations of counter espionage, namely for the Varya incidents. He agreed to help us find his other colleagues. They were investigating into the leaks of information from here to secret Alliance locations, the real spy."

Zoran's eyes widened slightly, their gaze hardening dangerously, before he almost hissed: "This claim again? There is no evidence for it so far."

With a snarl, Sha'krii smashed her fists on the table between them, almost yelling: "I was there! The Male Predator and Male Grey killed my father, King Le'krio, and pinned evidence on me to have me exiled and stripped of my title as next ruler! Their actions exploited my already paranoid people, and culminated in this war after a 10 year buildup. I know what I saw, and we shall prove it to end the war in as diplomatic a way as possible, by bringing that last scout in to confess. My legitimacy to the throne shall be restored, and I shall assume power to end the war."

"A noble goal, but perhaps out of reach. If it is true, there are no records of those scouts you talk of, save the two that are already dead. The third disappeared off the grid a few years following said incident's date. It might be a hopeless case." Responded Zoran, his voice cold yet collected.

"That remains to be seen. If so, we need all the help we can get." Said La'kias.

The meeting was adjourned, and as the four left for their ship, to rest there for the night, Zoran was already on the call to one of his security agents:

"This is Zoran. I need you to keep an eye on the visiting clones and their little pyro girl with them. Track their movements, and report it to all people on your channel in the vicinity. Make sure they do not do anything they will regret, and make us be forced to contain them."

"**Understood."**

Shaking his head as he dropped the connection, Zoran thought to himself haughtily: _It was good to finally meet Sha'krii Herensk after hearing about her so much. Still, the NKI has done well, better than I anticipated. Kal'sik may be a problem, but he will resolve himself for sure, he will either submit, or bring about his own end by his mistakes. Its not within my power. Still, I must maintain security, keep up appearences and all._

**Maglev train route 43, pan district rapid transit.**

"**Krith Lovisk is aboard the 13:14 express train from this station. Her stop is an hour away from here. Get aboard, find her, casually drop my name, make sure she knows she is being followed, and get her to safety by the next stop."**

"Alright, don't sweat it. Train's coming in 5 minutes from now." Remarked Xale. Lexa and Azula expectantly waited nearby, the three having bought tickets for the scheduled train coming to their station.

Sure enough, on schedule, the Maglev pulled into the station, and the three human NKI members, disguised in hooded civilian clothes, slipped aboard.

Peering down the passenger carriage corridors, Lexa whispered: "Krith is a Sril'sask, she'll be easy to spot."

"There. Way down the corridor, I saw a Sril'sask there. Jarothes, I'm sending you a picture, was that her?" Xale had reacted on sight, seeing down the passenger corridors to the next carriage down, as a female Sril'sask had disappeared into the washrooms.

"**Let me see…Yes, that's her! She's alive, thank mercy! Now, remember to casually mention me, if she's not convinced, pass a second communicator you each have to her, it's on this channel."**

"We might be recognized or cause her alarm if me or Lexa goes. Azula?" Xale wondered aloud, looking at the firebender expectantly. Azula was still learning much about the galaxy, but she had grasped the basics very quickly.

Nodding her head, Azula got up, slowly but almost casually making her way down the carriage. Passing through the connector segment, she entered the next carriage, her human visage drawing no looks from the other passengers, despite the mixture of Humans, Vulcans, Greys, Romulans and even a few Klingons. Reaching the washroom, Azula saw it was a two room section, one room to wait in, another to do business in.

Slipping in, Azula slid the first door shut, hearing that Krith was inside the washroom. Rapping her knuckles on the door, Azula heard Krith say: "Wait a few seconds will you?"

"I believe Jarothes can't wait any longer Krith." She responded. Sensing the apprehension behind the moment's silence, Azula got out the second communicator. The door slid open rapidly, Krith stomping forwards, seizing Azula by the scruff of her shirt and forcing her against the wall. Luckily the door was shut, so they were alone.

As Krith Lovisk glared at her, Azula got a real sense of at least female Sril'sasks. They were bipedal, with a semi upright, semi horizontal stature, and a long tail, rigid at the base, flexible in the second half. Sril'sask could use their tails to go from a horizontal, charging position, to an upright position similar to other Sapient races. Their bodies were covered in bony plating in vulnerable areas, such as the under arms, arm and leg joints, and the head, neck, chest and back. Their eyes were narrow pupils in vibrant colours, Krith's being a strange electric blue colour, and faced more outwards, giving much more surrounding vision, like a prey animal, but also could face forwards for hunting. The legs were triple jointed, like a bird's, and had 2 clawed toes on the front, and 2 smaller ones on the back, forming X shaped feet. Hoisting Azula against the wall was a 4 digit hand, with 3 clawed fingers and a directly underneath clawed thumb gripping her shirt material. The skull contained a snarling row of sharp teeth, the product of a few million years as both predators and prey, but also with molars near the back for vegetables, biologically for times when meat was scarce.

Her blue reptilian eyes glinting dangerously, Krith Lovisk growled as she demanded slowly: "If this is a joke, I'm not laughing. Jarothes was sent to prison over a year ago."

Glaring back, Azula held up the communicator: "Jarothes is on this communicator right now, a closed channel. Ask him whatever questions you need to ensure his identity. But I will only give you it if you release me."

Growling, Krith backed off, looking towards the shut washroom door as Azula brushed herself off. After Azula curtly handed the communicator over, Krith demanded into it: "Krith Lovisk here, who the hell is calling me?"

"**Krith. Its Jarothes Hutreck calling, as Azula said."**

"How do I know its really you?" Asked Krith, suspicious of the voice.

"**Who else did you tell besides Bal'toro and me that you once expressed an interest in Klingon opera during your school days?"**

Krith's breath caught in her throat, and she breathed: "How did you get out?"

As briefly as could be, Jarothes told her everything critical, including the Tartarus raid, and the initial disdain they saw for him, until he revealed he was framed, and he was tracking the real spy. Jarothes told Kirth of his uncle's role as the scout, and as to that being the likely reason he was framed, finding out something he shouldn't have, and it was linked to the spies.

"**The NKI is gathering information on the spies, and we need to get you to safety. We have suspicions that the same people that killed Bal'toro are coming after you, and we need the information you have on the transmissions so far. If we succeed, we could end this war diplomatically by bringing the last scout to justice, and revealing the lunacy of this whole conflict."**

"You expect me to just pack up and leave Ki'ristalis? Unless you're unaware, I'm under routine surveillance by the intelligence office. Things need to be sorted out."

"**I suppose you are right there. There must be a way to get you off without having to resort to illegitimate means."**

"A kidnapping during these meetings with the UIP and the NKI would be disastrous. But.." Azula pondered for a moment, and she hit upon an idea: "The talks are not due to finish for another 3 days, time enough to request for a few more assets to transfer to out cause, in return for a trade of information, either now, or later."

"**Please do share you idea Azula."**

**18th September 2901**

**UIP parliament building.**

"Intelligence chief Zoran. We have a slight change in our request for the trade of information. We wish to request the use of a certain volunteer from among your ranks of the intelligence bureau."

Sha'krii's words hardly surprised Zoran, who played it off, asking: "Oh, who was that?"

Bringing up a projection of her picture and unrestricted files, Kirth pointed out: "The female Sril'sask, Krith Lovisk. She apparently has a commendable record in hacking and encrypting files, including Alliance files, and such that her skills surpass many of our experts."

"She came forwards to request she leave with us, believing she can be more useful out there in the field then back in the UIP. As I recall hearing, she said she left a video message detailing her reasoning." Added Norstith. La'kias could not be there that time, as he was occupied dealing with the publicity questions for the NKI.

"I have seen the message, and I must tell you that she is a valuable asset to the UIP intelligence bureau. We always have the concern of spies in our midst, and I can argue against her leaving."

A tense silence followed, until then Zoran admitted: "I admit that my argument is not as strong as that favouring her leaving with you though. And who knows, perhaps she can send back code fragments for the department to analyse, to improve out cyberwarfare techniques."

Almost sighing in relief, the three NKI members made an accord with the intelligence chief.

Before they left that day, Zoran and the three met with the new UIP president, a male Vulcan, named Taeral Lakano.

"Before you depart tomorrow, I wish to make a request for a public appearance of you all as a farewell, and as a public recognition of our peripheral support of you I the war."

Norstith was taken aback by this, and asked curiously: "Do you mean just us?"

"No. I mean your entire staff of officers and commanders, including you, and any others visiting the planet surface of are in orbit." The president said, his words betraying no emotion.

Sha'kri exchanged a glance with Kirth and La'kias, asking then: "But what of some of the crimes pegged against some of our officers?"

Zoran merely said calmly: "Diplomatic immunity is placed upon them for the duration of their stay here. However, for safety reasons I must insist on armed security be placed around the event, in the event any trouble does arise."

La'kias saw the point: "It's a publicity stunt then."

"Precisely. So, can I assume all of you will be there tomorrow?" Asked President Lakano.

"**Absolutely not. You know perfectly well the circumstances under which I had to leave this planet last time."**

Predictably, there were only 1 individual whose presence would perhaps not be wise in close proximity to the president. Alex had a bad history, and didn't think President Lakano would find security in knowing his predecessor's killer was near him at any time.

"President Lakano has specifically requested all of you to the surface tomorrow. He has said he will wave any previous crimes for the duration of the visit." Stated Sha'krii: "Not attending would reflect badly on us all."

"**Oh, and what happens if we're all asked to shake his hand or something? Hmm? I don't even want to imagine how bystanders might react if I get within 10 feet of him."**

Shockwave interjected, sending a formal message simultaneously to Sha'krii's data device: **"Reach a compromise. Say you will attend, but impose a restraining order upon yourself from President Lakano, if it will ease your conscious and/or that of the bystanders."**

Contemplative silence rang, until Alex said: **"If it goes wrong, just know I was right about it."**

**Liberator, Ki'ristalis orbit**

"Unbelievable! I can't believe they talked me into going down there again!" Said Alex, amazed at his agreement.

They were all sat in one of the battleship's starboard observation lounges, overlooking the planet, and the sprawling metropolis that covered a large portion of one smaller continent, the central area of Ki'ristalis.

"Remind me how long since you were last here?" Asked Morthas, not looking up from his holo-text novel he was reading.

"About 2 and a half years." Alex overlooked the planet, taking in the view, familiar, yet somehow, alien, a different life of his having once lived down there.

"You never know. I always heard that the guy you killed was a bit of a ruthless bigot to the Alliance. They might actually thank you." Ja'hail added, trying to make some humour from the situation.

"Ja'hail, I've been seeing all sorts of things on the net sites from users on the planet below about me just being up here. Do you even want to know what some of them said they'd do to me if they found me?"

"So what, kick them in the ass if they try anything." Xale offered, himself reclining on a lounge sofa. Shoving his legs of the seats, Azula roller her eyes, commenting: "And that will make everything so much better for our public relations."

Se'rie looked at Alex, who was still staring out the window. She offered hopefully: "Maybe things aren't as bad as they are. I mean, they may not like things you've done before, but many in the UIP like what you've been recently doing. You're a leading NKI officer, you helped lead a theft of an entire Alliance dreadnought, and its rumoured destruction later."

Hitting the transparisteel wall, Alex said: "Alright, I'll go. But I'm not taking any chances, any sign of trouble and I'm out. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to my cabin. I need some time to myself."

**Midnight, Liberator internal time.**

A knock awoke Alex in the night. He called loud enough: "It's open."

Slipping in, Se'rie walked over, her feet not covered by Shockwave's talon covers. As Alex sat up in his bed, a large, double bed, she sat down on the edge, her gaze worried and loving:

"You worried about tomorrow?"

Sighing, he replied: "I'm worried what might happen if I meet anyone. I'm the only one among us who once lived there, and my adoptive sister and her friends still live there too. If we meet, well, last time we were busy staying alive in the Varya missions. But now, things might get complicated."

Cupping his chin in her three digits halfway along her wing, Se'rie smiled lightly, comforting him: "If they do get complicated, I'll be there with you. I'll be there whenever we're down there. You won't have to face anything alone."

Reaching over, he pulled her into a one armed hug, whispering: "Thanks Se'rie." The feel of his mechanical arms, the dark matter and heated outer metal layer, was still surprisingly comfortable to her. He asked quietly: "What about us? They might not approve of a relationship between a UIP species and an Alliance species."

"Alex, if they've rejected you and shunned you from society as you fear, what more can they do to you. Let them know, who cares what they think. We've opened up social relation between our races more than any of them ever have by us being together. Let them know." She finished the statement with a kiss, her tongue driving deep into his mouth as her beak enveloped his mouth in turn.

Breaking away after a few moments of tongue wrestling, he laughed a bit, agreeing: "You're right. Screw them and any bigoted views they might have. I live my life how I want to, and I want to be with you more than anyone else."

"That's what I like to hear from my mate." Se'rie said, snuggling into him. Surprised, Alex asked: "Mate?"

"Well we have shared ourselves with each other more than once, we just haven't made it official. You don't mind do you."

"Not at all. So, will you stay with me, until we need to leave, just be with me?" Alex asked, his voice dropping to a whisper again. Crawling into bed with him, Se'rie lay down with Alex by her side, her wing folding over his body, as he pulled the sheets over them.

"Goodnight my mate." They each whispered, before falling into sleep, before the descent into public appearances tomorrow.

**Slightly longer chapter here, but finally done.**

**Please read and review, for purpose of me using feedback productively. Any opinions so far?**

**The story is solid so far in my mind, minus a few little details, and is coming along nicely.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 9: Diplomatic showcase, old 'friends'.**

**19th September 2901**

**Ki'ristalis, municipal park plaza.**

For security, the 'gala' as it was called, was held in a mainly closed off plaza, atop a large skyscraper, 200 metres above the streets below. It was in the open, but far enough from any sniper points, out of gunsight, and while it occurred, the UIP security would be wary for intruders, or any 'misbehaviour' from the NKI attendees.

The guests from the NKI included the crew from the Dawnbreaker, a few dozen total, its officers, [Sha'krii, Kirth, La'kias and Norstith included], and the organics and AI units aboard the Liberator battleship [Alex, Xale, Lexa, Azula, Se'rie, Ja'hail and Morthas]. Shockwave did not wish to attend, to research a private endeavour to aide the NKI. Raxler and Aru'san were different. To not push their diplomatic immunity too far, they both remained aboard the Liberator, but were ready to deploy. There were laws in the UIP against more complete AIs like them, and they had been constructed unlicensed, and unofficially tested.

Guests from the UIP included dignitaries and officials, with only a handful of reporters around the gala with exclusive clearance. There also included guests invited at the behest of some of the UIP dignitaries.

"So I take it Krith Lovisk, and her, ahem, 'business partner', are staying aboard the Dawnbreaker?" Asked Morthas to Kirth. The almost white Leg'hrul nodded, remarking aloud: "Naturally Mr. Krithos. We can't risk the latter appearing, and Ms. Lovisk was keen to get to work and reacquaint herself with her business partner."

It was wise not to mention Jarothes out loud, in case prying ears were alert.

"Pardon the intrusion, but I would recognize you anywhere Kirth." An unknown voice beckoned, prompting Morthas to slip back into the crowd, leisurely heading to the viewing balcony. Turning to the voice, Kirth found himself facing a relatively elderly human, decorated in what appeared to be service medals. Extending a hand in the human gesture of greeting, the man introduced himself:

"Admiral Heinan Meinheart." Kirth saw the hard look of mixed honour and disdain, and shook the hand, remarking aloud as he thought to himself: "Heinan Meinheart, the name is familiar. Battle of Eteri-6, wasn't it? You were leading the defensive fleet."

"Yes. August 2nd 2897, I was in charge of the defending fleet around the planet." The admiral responded. Kirth remembered all too well: "Yes, strategically important as a source of antimatter fuel for starship engines in the surrounding systems, if I recall. A long winded fight, but, steadily the outcome became as predicted."

"Your fleet cost me a third of my fleet around that planet, and we only just recaptured that system a month before the dreadnought attacks started. I came to say only this, that it is a relief that you are no longer fighting for the Alliance."

"To be fair, I had my fair share of challenges, and defeats, in many battles in the war before I began this revolutionary venture. It would not be war, rather violent progress, had there not been challenges like that." Admiral Meinheart saw Kirth's gaze flicker to the balcony to the far left, at the plaza's edge, where among a thin crowd of people, a certain human stood, staring out at the cityscape.

"Very well. It was a pleasure meeting you Kirth, and here's to hope that we don't find each other on opposite battlefronts again. My respect goes to you as a strategist, and as for you now being against the Alliance now." Nodding, Heinan Meinheart walked off, returning to what appeared to be a group of admirals conversing with themselves.

"It's so strange to be here. I have memories of living on this planet, but they're not mine."

"Relax Xale. No one recognizes you besides from the Varya operations or your NKI work. You are as untouchable as I am."

"Sure, I guess. You look great by the way." Commented Xale.

"And what's great today that isn't normally great all the time about me?" Asked Azula, playfully scowling at her boyfriend, who despite having a good 10 inches over her 5 foot 8 inches, couldn't stand as tall around her. He laughed a bit, commenting: "Not this game again."

Dressed a robe dress, stylized like red, black and gold rimmed fire nation formal robes, Azula leant her side against the railing, the drop onto the balcony below only one story. After that, over the next edge was a near 40 story drop, a medium fall by this planet's standards of building height. Azula's hair was braided in a messy tail, her way of making sure it stayed out of her face and still making it look formal enough, but easy to manage.

Opposite her, leaning on the same railing facing her, Xale was dressed in a dress suit, of a smart, black and gold trimmed set of trousers, shirt and jacket, the collar sticking up only slightly.

About to make another comment, Azula cut herself off, saying to Xale: "I'm not drinking here, so I know I saw someone from the Varya battles over in the crowds there." Following her finger, Xale saw at least one familiar face in that general direction.

"Well, if Alex meets him, at least things won't go to hell."

Sha'krii had finished talking to Zoran once more, the chief on intelligence as cold as ever. But something was off about him, different from yesterday. Her species could sense pheremone enough to detect strong emotions, and she could smell a strong pheromone scent from Zoran. Nervousness perhaps?

She did see a guest Zoran had invited casually walking through the party, headed for the balcony edge.

Standing on the balcony, Alex was flanked by Se'rie and Norstith each, the latter having joined him recently.

"2 years, 7 months. It's only been that short a time since I killed the President?" Alex mused aloud. Se'rie came up to him, laying a 3 fingered hand on his on the railing, while Norstith looked out over the city also.

Pointing to a distant, lighted area of the cityscape, about 6 kilometres away, but visible as a yellow-white, small area, Alex said: "That's the place it happened. Right in that square. After that, everything went wrong, and yet, I can't have gotten where I am today had I not done it."

Norstith saw the musing state Alex was in, and he said once more in his serious tone: "Alex, I am, sorry, for the things I made you do. Seeing what you had to flee from, it makes me remember."

"Uncle, he's alright with it. He knows the reason he followed you, because one of them is right on his other side now." At the last part, she rubbed her head against his cheek lovingly. Smiling, Alex admitted aloud: "I guess I'll always have at least one person to keep close."

"Something I should know here?"

The familiar voice made Alex whip around, and he saw, to his shock, Lanver Kones, standing there, a beaming smirk on his face as he walked over to them. Barking in laughter for a moment, Alex walked up to Lanver, gripping his hand hard in greeting:

"Lanver! How long has it been now!"

"Nearly 1 and a half years, and man have you been busy!" Lanver retorted.

Breaking from the greeting, Alex gestured for Norstith and Se'rie to come meet Lanver. Though in Norstith's case they had already met: "Hey, Norstith! Still relying on the metal feathers and all?"

"Unfortunately yes. There has not been sufficient time or resources to possibly transfer myself to an organic body. Of course, there are merits to this body."

Nodding, Lanver then saw Se'rie, asking as he scanned her from head to toe: "Oh, and who is this guy here?"

"I'm a girl you ass." Se'rie replied. Lanver simply laughed off his mistake, as Alex leant over: "You forgot the way to tell them apart? Bigger with bushy necks are males, smaller with smooth necks are females."

"Right, right, sorry about that. You're just the first female Leg'hrul I've seen out of armour. When the armour's on, you Leg'hrul all look somewhat alike."

"I guess we can't fault you there." Norstith said, his face blank. He disliked how mammalian races of the UIP distinguished genders by chest features so often, when both Alliance races differentiated in gender in different ways to torso protrusions, and assumed it would carry into other races. It seemed pretentious and anthropomorphic.

Regardless, Se'rie was pleased to meet one of Alex's oldest friends, though she too kept quiet about Jarothes and Lanver capturing him on false evidence. She then asked: "Any other friends with you here."

"Ah, yeah, about that. Alex, it's a good thing you got that self agreed restraining order from President Lakano. Someone sticking close to him isn't exactly on good terms with you, and she is quite frankly annoyed with you."

"Oh crap. Which of the three is it?" Asked Alex. He knew this would happen, he knew it. However, what Lanver said next was as bad as possible.

"All three are here, but two of them are on the lower level. They haven't seen you yet."

"Which of them is by their lonesome."

"Just look over at President Lakano." Lanver pointed. Alex looked over at the president, seeing a handful of soldiers, out of uniform for an attempted disguise, standing nearby. 2 Humans, 1 Na'vi, a Predator and a Klingon. Of all the possibilities, it had to be her.

"Why? Why did Quirinth have to be here?"

"She, Sru'sky and Trion came apparently at Zoran's invitation." Said Lanver. Scowling, Alex said to Se'rie with some regret: "Sorry, I need to talk to Zoran. I'll be back."

"Don't do anything stupid." She reminded him.

As Alex walked off, Lanver looked back and forth between them, asking: "Is there something I should know here?"

"No." Said Se'rie, curtly. Lanver's interest rose, and Norstith flashed a knowing smile, saying: "Alex and my niece here are, shall we say, involved with each other."

"Uncle!" Exclaimed Se'rie, her facial feathers bushing out in embarrassment, causing Norstith to chuckle a bit.

Lanver's eyebrows shot into his bushy hair, and he asked in shock: "Anything else I've missed?"

Quirinth looked around, feeling out of place, yet comforted that she was one of the few allowed a weapon here.

She had already scanned the crowds, seeing for sure that everyone from the NKI and UIP expected was here. She recognized the male and female clones and the pyro human girl from the Varya battles, and to her fear, and mixed anger, betrayal and regret, she saw Alex. The human she once called a friend, who was currently approaching some of the speaking UIP officials near one edge of the crowd, was one of the most high profile guests at the party.

Curiously, Quirinth had been ready for Alex to attack the President, as her rationale had determined he might. It was unusual for him to subtly gesture intelligence chief Zoran over to talk in private with him, an urgent look in his eyes. Then, in the briefest moment, they locked eyes.

Yellow and Red locked once more, for the first time in over 1 and a half years. And Quirinth kept her gaze, even as Alex's flashed with some repressed anger.

Breaking eye contact with Quirinth, Alex spoke to Zoran: "Why did you invite three people to this gathering who are commonly known to be my former friends, now enemies?"

"A test, to determine the plausibility of one of the more, doubted NKI members. If you can maintain an air of decency, and restrain yourself, then your cooperation can improve your reputation at least among the UIP." Zoran said.

"Even so, I don't like the fact that one of the people who tried to so brutally kill me is standing just 20 metres away from me." Alex said.

"One must capitalize on past mistakes and deeds. If you can prove that you have put aside your deepest personal grudge for the sake of the NKI, that will prove tremendous for you achieving at least personal peripheral support. Despite it being an Alliance race centred organization, you, and Shockwave, act as the faces of the UIP in the NKI." Zoran said, stressing his point.

As much as he hated it, Alex knew Zoran was right. At that moment, he began to head off towards the stairs, to the lower level, saying to Zoran: "I'm going to find Trion and Sru'sky. I want them to know I know they are here."

"Suit yourself. I believe I may head over to Sha'krii Herensk. She has been looking , curiously, at me all night."

As Alex reached the stairs, Norstith, Se'rie, and surprisingly, Ja'hail, was there. Alex asked: "Lanver walked off?"

"He had to speak with a Romulan Ambassador. Are you heading down to the lower level?" Norstith asked. Nodding, Alex led the way, commenting: "I saw Quirinth, and I know Trion and Sru'sky are down here."

"Sru'sky's your adoptive sister right?" Se'rie asked. Ja'hail muttered: "Family reunion? Good thing I'm dressed for the occasion."

"That, and the atmosphere's a bit more lively down here." Alex said.

Entering the lower level, the crowd was larger here, and there was music playing. The building penthouse that had been rented included not only the top floor balcony plaza, but a lower level five star restaurant and dance floor.

The lighting was fairly bright, the whole place done up in a bright, silver coloured walls and floor, while some tiles flashed different colours on the dance floor. The whole dance restaurant rather resembled a mix of a traditional five star restaurant and a wedding reception.

Grabbing a table, Norstith and Se'rie showcased a design flaw in UIP chair designs, at least this particular make. Alliance chairs had a back rest supported only on a central support, to avoid Leg'hrul tail feathers catching it as they stood up. Here, Se'rie and Norstith had to sit diagonally, to ensure their tail feathers stayed out of the way and comfortable, at least in Se'rie's case.

Sitting down, Ja'hail saw a caterer passing by, a male human with a pointed face and tanned skin. With Ja'hail's gesture, the caterer approached, seeming to only look at Alex:

"What can I get our esteemed guests tonight?" Seeing the caterer's focus on him, Alex said: "We'll just have 4 glasses of Pala'hail white please. Oh, and bring a bottle."

"Very good sir." Before the caterer could leave, Alex lightly grabbed his wrist, saying calmly: "Oh, and a note on respect. Actually look at the ones your serving, regardless of what race they are." Lightly tugging his wrist away, the caterer briskly departed.

Ja'hail laughed a bit at the light advisory 'threat', while Norstith simply looked around the restaurant, scanning the patrons silently. Se'rie looked at Alex questioningly, before she asked: "I know he was being rude, but we need to all behave here."

"You forget, this was my resident planet before I fully joined the KI. If you want them to do something properly, you have to reinforce the point."

Standing in the corner, himself being the tallest being in the room, Trion had already sighted the human, Kro'nogri and two Leg'hrul from across the dance floor. Having situated himself so he was in a booth in a viewing corner, Trion was patiently scanning the booth Alex occupied out of the corner of his optics.

Alongside him, Sru'sky's green eyes were trained no where else. Like Trion, she recognized two of them, including Alex himself, and none of other than Norstith. The Kro'nogri and smaller Leg'hrul were unknown. How it irked her that they were here as dignitaries, when she had a desire to knock out both of the ones she knew and lock them in prison forever.

But she knew better, especially after the media stories of these 'dark matter users', emphasized their abilities in combat. She knew all too well what some of dark matter's abilities were first hand.

The caterer that passed their table came nearer, and Sru'sky decided to try and at least open up a link to them. She looked up at Trion, saying simply: "He's not here to cause trouble, maybe now is a good a time as any to just talk to him about everything?"

A scowl on his facial plating, Trion agreed, saying just before the male human caterer passed by: "Watch him carefully."

The drinks arrived at the table, and with it a small card.

Passing the drinks around, Alex read the card: **The table in the furthest corner. Come regardless of convenience.**

Only his eyes looking around, Alex saw the furthest corner table, and lo and behold, Sru'sky and Trion were there, trying to steal glances at him.

Downing his white whine glass in a single gulp, Alex stood up, not before Se'rie grabbed his arm: "Wait! Where are you going?"

"Some former friends want to discuss some things with me." He spat, gesturing over at the table in the corner. Norstith saw this, and he said: "Your step sister I presume? And the mech."

"Step sister?" Asked Se'rie. She knew about his family life, and its 'troubles' of the past few years. But there was his adoptive sister, who undoubtedly harboured a grudge against him, and a large cybertronian mech. It was troubling to say the least. She firmly reminded him: "I said I'd be with you wherever you went here, remember?"

"That was before I knew those two and Quirinth were here!"

"Alex, you're not talking me out of this. I'm coming with you." Said Se'rie, standing beside him. Norstith stood up also, saying: "I should go as well. Perhaps I can clear up why I convinced you to join the KI. You're family troubles are my fault, in a way."

"You can go, I'm staying put. I'll keep an eye on you, but there's no sense wasting this wine." Commented Ja'hail, pouring himself a second glass. Nodding, Alex then figured: "Norstith. Since you say this is all your fault, after you."

"Fine, I shall go. But perhaps avoid visibly crossing the threshold, to draw less attention to ourselves as we go over when we do." Suggested Norstith.

"Like I said, you first." Finished Alex.

At that moment, Norstith vanished into thin air, invisibly walking over to the corner table. His disappearance had gone unnoticed.

"Good evening."

Norstith reappeared almost instantly, right in front of Trion and Sru'sky's table, greeting them as such. Sru'sky leapt, her heart nearly jumping out of her throat, while Trion recoiled in surprise. Unaffected by their reaction, Norstith said:

"I realize you invited my associate and former pupil, but I decided I needed to come over of my own volition."

"You are Norstith. You were the one Alex worked for, the one who gave him the orders to kill hundreds of lives." Said Sru'sky, the Leg'hrul's identity spurning a hidden aggression inside her. Raising his disguised metal wings in defence, Norstith said: "Please understand. I know that you view myself and Alex Hunter in a negative view, but you must believe me when I say this. You know of the ultimate reason for me controlling and ordering Alex as such, as part of the dark matter warrior project. But please, I would never have done the things I did to him, and made him do, under better circumstances."

"What possible reason do we have to go on for you turning our friend, Sru'sky's brother, against us?" Asked Trion, his blue optics narrowed. Norstith gestured over at the table, where Alex sat with the unknown Leg'hrul, a female as noticed now. He stated with a sad tone: "Imagine you had lost your sister and nephew on one side of your family, and you would do whatever it took to keep your last sibling and her family safe. The Alliance threatened the execution of my sister, her mate and children, should I not cooperate with their demands."

He then decided to use that truth as his advantage, and before he could make his next point, Sru'sky's face had visibly softened, and she muttered a bit: "I'm sorry for that. But you still changed him."

"If you pardon the bluntness, but in changing him I saved Alex's life. It was on that fated single mission he disappeared for two months after, and on his sentence in jail, it was either join the KI, working in secret, or be executed."

"And on the note of saving my family at the cost of his own life in the UIP, Alex agrees with my choice, especially after meeting them, and my niece."

Sru'sky and Trion glanced over, and sure enough, they saw Alex talking to the female Leg'hrul, sitting very close to her, his metallic hand covered by her wing talons, her hand lightly stroking his metal one.

"He is dating her?" Norstith grew suspicious over her tone, and said: "Since almost a year and a half now."

"Typical. He betrays and tries to destroy the UIP, then returns to save it. Now we find out he was chasing bird tail while he was off?" A new voice joined them, and they saw that Quirinth had come over, hearing everything. Whirling to meet her, Norstith saw Quirinth pressing into his face, though he himself did not back down as he stared down the shorter, stronger build female Predator. Her mouth mandibles flaring aggressively, she said: "Your whole family had been killed, this whole mess wouldn't be happening now, all because you placed your family before the UIP and those in the war."

"DO NOT SPEAK of my family like that! I know all about you Quirinth, and how you opted to succumb to your bloodlust on Iegris, leaving Alex to die instead of serving 'justice' and capturing him. Just like a Predator." Norstith was antagonizing her now, baiting her to pull a stunt that would make the Alliance races look better.

Sneering, Quirinth continued to argue, while she, Sru'sky and Trion were unaware that Alex and Se'rie had suddenly disappeared from view at their table, leaving Ja'ahil alone with the wine glasses and bottle.

"You're pathetic. And to think Alex apparently respects you, and followed you. He abandoned you though, that says something about your leadership and control. And now you're back together, oh how sweet. And now he's even chasing the tail of your niece? How pathetic he must be to go after a girl related in any way to you, especially if she's anywhere as cowardly and disgusting as you are. If I were her, I'd just go ahead and-"

"And what Quirinth? I'm very interested to hear what you think Se'rie should do regarding our relationship together." Slowly, Quirinth turned around, and sure enough, to the equal shock of Sru'sky and Trion, Alex was stood there, with the female Leg'hrul, presumably Se'rie, stood directly behind him, a deep look of hurt and anger on her face.

Stepping towards Quirinth, Alex barked in cruel laughter as she back stepped, almost hitting Norstith in her shock: "Now isn't this a change of heart? The Savage Huntress cowering in fear from me, when moments ago you were badmouthing me and my new allies. Well, let me clarify exactly what it is you just disrespected Quirinth. And don't worry, this won't be a repeat of the Mykris warehouse incident." The last sentence eared a cruel chuckle from Alex, and a look of horror from Sru'sky, while trion was stoic, and Quirinth was near openly scared.

"I've changed since we last met. I have a new appreciation for my life." He flexed his neck sideways, pulling down his shirt back, revealing the scarred and slightly deformed skin around the spinal length implants protruding slightly. He then scowled, saying: "You can insult me for what I've done in the past and for my flaws. But my allies in the NKI are where I draw the line. I have more respect for them than I will likely ever have for any of you anytime soon."

The last part he added with every drop of negative emotion he had, each syllable like a gun at Quirinth's heart: "And if I ever hear you badmouthing Se'rie again, or any of you bad mouthing her, there will be consequences. Besides, I'd assume you'd do the same for each other, Sru'sky? Trion? So you understand how serious I am when I say I won't tolerate anyone saying anything bad about her."

Letting it sink in, Alex smirked at their looks of surprise, fear, and in Se'rie's case, admiration. Before he turned to leave, Alex added: "Oh, and keep up the work on the war front, or whatever you call what you're doing. Say what you will, but I'm getting results, something your government can't seem to do around the dreadnought attacks. The NKI meanwhile, didn't we steal a dreadnought and destroy it?"

"I believe we did." Added Norstith, crediting the lie they fabricated over the dreadnought. Seeing their looks of surprise, or indignity and outright fear in Quirinth's case, Alex decided to give them a bit of mercy, not from him, but from something else.

Norstith then looked at Alex, saying: "Personal feelings aside though, perhaps there is something we could offer you as a token of cooperation between our factions. Concerning a 'development' with one of the dreadnoughts."

Realizing what Norstith meant, Alex put aside who exactly it was he was talking to, and brought up a data file, with a small holographic projection of Kal'sik: "This Kro'nogri here, he was the leader of the Varya operations, and has now gone overboard in his extreme plans for an Alliance victory. He has actually merged his mind with the AI core of one of the dreadnoughts out there now."

Sending the data to each of their data devices, Alex entrusted them with a special communications channel. Sru'sky asked suspiciously: "And what is this?"

Se'rie saw it, and answered honestly, not displaying the aggression Alex had previously shown: "Its codes for a secure communications channel to our outpost in the Solaris system. We've given information of this sort to the UIP intelligence chief and his secretaries. Contact with Alliance people is impossible, unless we try it ourselves with out networks. We can relay any information of value to you and the UIP intelligence."

"Including possible attack sites for Dreadnought raids." Added Alex. Norstith then urged them both: "We should head upstairs, I have a feeling we might be missed."

Nodding, Alex added: "You see, we're not all bad here. I've put aside my grudges and feelings concerning you three, well, mainly one, for now." He leered at Quirinth, whose mandibles flared aggressively. Finishing, Alex turned around and said: "I have bigger problems to worry about, as should you. There are things worse than my possible payback in this war, Kal'sik chief among them."

Surprisingly, Alex left his 3 former friends, actually happier than before he went to them.

Breaking from their looks at Alex, Quirinth looked over the data enough to confirm it wasn't fake. She had seen herself the communication codes given to Zoran, and these matched almost exactly, minus the code segment for each of their IDs.

"That went, well." Trion was at a loss for words. He had been half expecting a shouting match, or even an attack. Sru'sky was relieved, saying: "Maybe there is some hope for him yet."

"How can you say that? After what he did to me, or what he did to your father?" Asked Quirinth incredulously, her golden eyes seeking answers in Sru'sky's emerald eyes. The Na'vi replied: "Calm down Quirinth. I don't like him, my mother is unsure about him, but he just gave us a way to help the UIP there and now. Surely that is an improvement?"

Scowling, Quirinth said: "He tries anything he's-"

"Dead? I recommend you wouldn't attempt it, not after hearing what dark matter users are capable of." Trion said.

**20th September 2901**

The previous day's gala had gone smoothly, and now the Underworld guild would have offered intelligence on Dreadnought strikes and planned Alliance raids to the UIP, using comm buoys in the Solaris system and the surrounding star systems. Established in multiple systems, the buoy network would relay the information between the Alliance and UIP.

Now though, they were continuing a 'tour' of the UIP territory, before heading back to the Solaris cluster. Their guide would constantly remain aboard the Dawnbreaker.

Jarothes had collaborated with Krith, and with his information gathered on the contents of the transmitted messages and identities, it seemed the culprits were indeed high ranking intelligence officers, or people associated with UIP and Alliance arms companies. Some of the transmissions were over a decade old in fact.

Krith Lovisk's data was hidden away, on her last ambassadorial trip to the homeworlds. Namely, one specific homeworld. Their destination was set.

Sol system, Earth.

**I told you Earth would come up, didn't I?**

**Anyway, reviews are appreciated, but not necessary, though feedback is nice once in a while.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 10: An Odyssey's end, data hound part 1.**

**22nd September 2901**

**Sol system, Earth orbit, Liberator/Dawnbreaker NKI fleet.**

"Earth. I can't believe it. I'm finally here." Croaked Alex.

He was on the starboard observation deck once more, gazing out at the blackness of space, and the planet far below, the single moon just visible as half full beyond. His home planet, and the planet of his individual birth.

"You okay?" Asked Se'rie, standing beside and slightly behind him, looking at him with happiness and concern. Alex placed a metal clawed hand on the window, noting how they left no condensation marks on the transparisteel: "This was my birth planet. Nearly 23 years ago, I was born down there. I wonder if anyone knew my parents at all? My sister?"

Seeing his face hardening, Se'rie wrapped a wing around him, her wing enveloping him in a single armed hug. Sensitively, Se'rie pried: "What do you know about them?"

"My parents were merchants. My sister was fourteen years old when I was born.4 months after that, they'd all taken me with them on a ferry ship to Keletari, in the next system. They never made it. That's when the pirates raided the ship. I was put in an escape pod first as procedure, small children first. It launched early."

"I don't even know what they looked like." Said Alex. His voice was not about to crack, he was not being miserable over events that happened over 2 decades ago. It was an old pain, one he had long since buried, but it constantly nagged at him to be done, to find some form of identity to the family he was robbed of.

Se'rie gently tightened her hug, nestling her head underneath his chin, against his neck, as a form of comfort. The feel of her head feathers rubbing against his skin helped to lessen the surging pain of suppressed loss.

"I don't know your pain Alex, but that's what I love about you. You can take so much, and not crumble in submission. But I know you are not invincible." Looking into his lifeless red eyes, she reinforced: "Whenever you need help, I will always be there for you."

Kissing Se'rie gently on the beak, Alex nestled his head into her feathers, inhaling her wildflower scent to sooth his pain. He would finally be on his homeworld, and he would have someone to perhaps show it to.

That is, provided good warning was given about the NKI visitors, or if the disguise technology for human visages was authorized for use by the authorities on this occasion.

**London, Knightsbridge.**

London was as busy as it had ever been in its over 3000 year existence. Though its face had changed many times in the face of war, development, and in one case, fire.

Despite humanity's best efforts to maintain its cultural and architectural heritage, much of London now was dominated by modern structures, rising high into the sky. At street level, the old style stone buildings, some dating back to the Georgian eras of English human history, a few even further back, were aesthetically the same as they had largely been, but atop them, modern infrastructure loomed.

It was in Knightsbridge that 4 people disembarked the overhead maglev monorail, running overhead in the concrete and steel laden express road on support stands. The maglev trains ran over the tops of bigger roads, passing between the old buildings, and on higher levels, overhead roads and transit tracks passed over the tops of the old buildings.

Of the four, Krith Lovisk led the way, her reptilian form a great contrast to the human dominated masses. She was accompanied by 4 humans, although none of them were recognized for their true identities.

One human, a brunette, light tan skinned male, and rather tall, was in fact Alex in disguise. He marvelled at how covering his facial scars with disguising patches made such difference to his appearance. He was wearing some clothing he had purchased from shops on Ki'ristalis, on order of course, comprising of a synthetic fibre navy blue hoodie and dark blue casual trousers appearance. Underneath it of course was his lighter armour, some weapons, and dark matter.

Beside her, Lexa was there, her appearance largely unchanged except for her long black hair, which she was keeping in a pony tail for now. She wore clothing she had also bought on order from Ki'ristalis, her ensemble being her light, organic appearing armour, weapons and dark matter beneath a form of dark grey casual trousers, and a navy blue form fitting jersey and shirt.

As usual with Lexa, Xale was there too, himself being in clothing largely similar to Alex, though his colours were slightly darker, more a maroon colour jersey with black trousers. His hair was unchanged, being spiky and slightly unkempt, still as black as ever.

Here, Krith had said that her contact, whom she had deposited her first batch of gathered data with, wished to meet them in a café in the most known place in this part of London.

"If we're meeting someone for matters like this, isn't this a bit too in the open?" Asked Lexa, staring up at the maroon bricked, very old style building they were approaching. Krith shook her head, commenting wryly:

"That's what my contact and I agreed on. No one would think to look in Harrods."

Due to the old style of Harrods itself, little could be done to expand the building upwards or outwards without losing the style. In that respect, along with other shops seizing new customers, Harrods expanded downwards.

The restaurant in particular was indoors, within the centre of the 3rd basement level of the visitor areas. Here, Krith, Alex, Lexa and Xale sat, while the female Sril'sask scanned for any sign of her contact. As they reached the 15 minute mark of waiting, a male human, Indian in heritage, walked by, stopping at their table to innocently ask:

"Excuse me, but where might I find an information terminal? My data device is broken."

Krith smoothly responded before the humans she was with could: "The terminal is found where most people miss it, in the open." At that, the Indian man scratched his chin, covered in a shadow of hair growth, eyeing the 3 humans suspiciously. Without another word, he deposited a small holographic disk on the table, and left.

Picking up the disk, Krith briefly explained: "A code I set up with my contacts. They ask that question, say that answer."

Opening the files on the disk, Krith saw a single audio file, and synched it to Alex's, Xale's and Lexa's earpieces as she played it to her own earpiece:

"**The data was hidden away for security purposes. UIP intelligence servicemen inquiring about transactions of all agents. You cannot be traced to us, but you can be traced from us. The data has been hidden in hard copy form, divided into **

**2 sections, and a 3rd scrambled, online version. The devices are synched to recognize your ID only."**

"**The first is located in Cambridge, in possession by one of our agents at Cambridge University, Professor Stephen Redgewood. Use the code as appropriate. He owes us from a loan to pay off drinking debts, and that was his way of paying us."**

"**The second is located in Honolulu, under possession of a Space port official, Razid Montiego. He owes us money lost in gambling, and he holds the data as payment."**

"**The third section is online, scattered across the planetary data networks. This is ID specific, but as you stated, the information is useless without the other two segments. Type your ID number and registration into a standard search engine protocol, and the third batch of information will be sent directly to your data device."**

"**Be warned, we will not have your retrieval of the files be a way to compromise our operations. The UIP is still monitoring activity, so save the third data batch for last, retrieve the hard copy batches first."**

Closing the message, Krith shrugged, saying: "Well, we have our targets. I can get our 'associates' in orbit to get the third data batch when the time comes. Meanwhile, we get the two batches."

Bringing up a planetary map, Alex saw the routes available to them: "We can take the intercity routes to Cambridge. It's a 30 minute trip on express maglev."

**Sol system, Earth, Cambridge University.**

The buildings in the University were weathered with age, the limestone worn away by nearly 2000 years of rain and wind. If not for a consistently applied protective coating in the 22nd century, the buildings would have deteriorated into a desolate state by now.

Still, as the 3 humans and Sril'sask marched through the plaza, the sounds of lectures ending echoed. Students, mainly human, but the odd aliens here and there, trumped with heavy bags of books, data devices and equipment in hand. The rings of an old iron bell toted, mingling with the electronic rings of end-of-period alarms.

They headed towards the mathematics departments, seeing a swarm of university students clamouring out of the lecture theatre. According to lecture schedules, Professor Stephen Redgewood had finished his lecture now, and was free for an hour.

Shoving through the student crowd as politely as possible, Krith led the three into the lecture hall, coming out at the top, looking down at the lecture desk, where Professor Redgewood was talking to some of his students, 2 male humans, 1 female human, and a male Na'vi, of all things.

Heading down, Xale whispered to Alex: "A bit out of his way, isn't he, coming here for studies in maths?"

"Well, if he's from Pandora or Keletari, he's not exactly too far from home is he? Trips there and back are only about a half hour FTL jump, and standard orbital travel both ways." Alex said. In his honest opinion, he had been expecting more Na'vi encounters the closer he got to Alpha Centuari, though seeing one at Cambridge University, studying advanced mathematic theory, was a surprise.

As the four unnamed students exited the building, heading up the opposite side of the lecture theatre, Krith approached the Professor.

"Professor Stephen Redgewood?"

Looking up, Stephen Redgewood showcased his looks up close. He was an aged man, with wrinkles on his face and brow, his belly slightly large, likely from drink, and his hair was gone on the top of his head, leaving a bald patch among his thin, wiry ginger hair. His face, with some noticeable fat on the neck, was gaunt, and focused, much as a person of his career might be expected to have. His dress was of a suit, and behind him, the electronic display board was a plethora of advanced linear and non-linear equations, in this case, referring to theoretical physics concerning quasar activity.

"Yes, what is it? I have an hour to get ready for my next blasted lecture. Is it important?"

"Yes, it's about a certain package you were entrusted to keep a hold of by a group who wishes to remain hidden. I've come to reclaim it, as they hid it with you on my request of safeguarding its contents."

Redgewood did nothing, but stared at Krith with narrowed eyes, his brown ones snapping from her reptillain ones, to the Alex's red eyes, and the dual yellow eyes of Lexa and Xale. He asked: "I'm not entirely sure what you are referring to, perhaps you are mistaking me for someone else. I could point you to the nearest information terminal if your data device can't find them."

"I'm sure I could find it. Its amazing how many people miss them when they're out in the open." She replied.

Redgewood's face lightened up with what seemed like relief, and he said: "Follow me, I have it in my office drawers." The 3 humans and Sril'sask followed the professor, into a very old style office, but filled with modern technology.

As part of its scheme to preserve its nearly 2000 year old architecture, much of the old buildings remained aesthetically the same, but their facilities were updated with the times.

Coming to an antique, polymerized layer protected wooden desk, Professor Redgewood placed his files on the desk, and reached his hand below to a small screen on a drawer. Typing in a password code, the drawer opened up, revealing more private documents and objects. Among these private items was a single holo disk.

Reaching in, Redgewood brought the holodisk over to Krith, suddenly a bit more cheerful than he had initially been:

"I can finally get rid of this thing. Though I am thankful guarding it helped solve my debts."

"Did anyone else ask about the information?" Asked Lexa.

"Not specifically. There was a Vulcan who came to me yesterday, from the UIP intelligence bureau. He said he was pursuing a possible terrorist threat from within the criminal organizations here on Earth, namely the one I did business with here. He came asking me if I'd been in any business with them besides the loans I took for my debts. I said nothing about the data." Redgewood was sweating a bit now, but according to their scans from lie detection programs in their data devices, he was truthful.

"Might just be coincidence. We'll know if it's connected to us when we move to Honolulu." Xale shrugged as he said this, to which the other 3 agreed. Before they left, Krith tipped her head in thanks, saying: "Thanks for the help in keeping this."

"The thanks is mine, my dear. If anything it rid me of my drinking debts, and taught me to manage my professor's budget with the nights in the local pubs."

"Pubs?" Asked Lexa. Alex looked it up briefly, saying: "British slang for a bar."

"Now that we have that dreadful business over with, I must get back to my work. Look around the rest of the campus while you are here though, the rowing teams are practicing for their next big match on the Thames next week."

"Another University?" Asked Alex, amusement in his voice.

"Yes. Oxford." Redgewood seemed to spit the name: "A complete dump of a place, and incompetent compared to us in academia."

Walking out of the maths department, Lexa had brought up a local information network for leisure and interest: "Huh? He said Oxford is a dump, but all the visitor reviews say it's great."

"Friendly rivalry maybe? Might be a fairly recent thing." Suggested Krith, her tail more relaxed and slightly sweeping, a sign of lessened tension in her race.

Lexa interjected: "Oh, here it is. The famous Oxford-Cambridge rivalry, an ongoing competitive war in sports, the arts and academics, originating from within 50 years after the later of the two universities, Cambridge, was built."

Xale whistled, impressed: "And these places are nearly 1800 years old at least?"

**4 hours later**

A knock on Stephen Redgewood's office door alerted him to another visitor.

Shuffling along, he complained under his breath of how late this call was, it was already 8:30 in the evening. Pressing the door button, Redgewood looked at who was at the door.

Within 3 seconds, a set of abnormally strong, human like hands seized his shirt, and drive him backwards into his office wall with slow but strong, steady force. Breathing sharply, Redgewood noted the pointed ears, the unibrow, and the familiar, piercing eyes. This was the same Vulcan agent who had questioned him yesterday.

"Professor Stephen Redgewood. The UIP intelligence bureau does not take kindly to people who omit information. I asked you if you had been given anything by the criminal organizations to do, and that includes safeguarding data disks." The man's voice was cold, devoid of emotion, like many Vulcans were.

"Agh, alright! I lied to protect my source of payment! These were difficult times for me! But the knowledge was guaranteed to be non hazardous in nature." Croaked Stephen Redgewood, his slightly fat throat being constricted by hands tempered by 3 times Earth's gravity.

"Mr. Redgewood, in technicalities the only crime you are guilty of is omitting information. We cannot effectively penalize you for being victimized and blackmailed. However, if you wish to be truly trouble free, you will tell me the identities of the four you met with today, and where they are headed."

Nearly choking by now, Redgewood croaked as the Vulcan gripped his throat a bit harder: "Alright. I can't name names, but I can tell you where they are headed, and what they look like."

Dropping the human, the Vulcan gazed passively, requesting: "Continue."

Massaging his throat, Stephen Redgewood gasped: "It's Honolulu. They're headed for Honolulu. They'll probably be there soon, 3 humans, all quite tall. 2 boys, one with brown hair, and red eyes, one with black hair and yellow eyes. And a girl, black hair and yellow eyes. The Sril'sask is hard to miss with them."

"Thank you Professor. You can have a rest now." Reaching out, Ma'lekri pinpointed the spot between the neck and shoulder, gripping it tightly in the right place. Stephen Redgewood crumpled under the nerve strike, and after quickly lying the man onto the couch nearby, Ma'lekri slipped out of the office into the night, already calling in for backup to be sent to Honolulu whilst he reported the progress to his superiors.

**Sol sysem, Earth, Honolulu.**

As Honolulu was 10 hours behind Britain in solar day times, it was technically mid morning by the time Krith, Alex, Xale and Lexa arrived in Honolulu, under the baking sun and sparkling, shallow pacific waters. The ocean reflected sunlight glinted in the glass and steel frames of the skyscrapers and constructs of the capital city.

Honolulu had developed into a major spaceport for its area of the planet, and between Oahu island and the neighbouring Hawaiian islands stretched long, sturdy road and maglev bridges, passing over the waves, and standing firm in the strongest typhoons.

"Ma'lekri sir, the apartment has been raided, and Razid Montiego is dead. The data was found, and we copied it, and left the original for them to find." A lone human stood in an alley, speaking over a communications link to his commanding officer, currently still in Britain.

"**Excellent. We need to find out what it is that Krith has been gathering. The data drive will act as bait, and she shall take it. Persuade her to let you copy the data, it will be useless to request it thinking it to be the only copy. No doubt she has already transmitted it to the two NKI ships in orbit on visitation."**

"How shall I persuade her?" Asked the human.

"**Do what works most effectively and most quickly. But leave them alive. We need to maintain the delicate balance of the visit there is now."**

"Understood, Kones out."

Lanver Kones had just arrived in Honolulu that day, at the request of Zoran himself. Apparently there was new evidence for an insider traitor, and that Krith might either be getting misled by the infiltrator, or might be another spy. Under Ma'lekri's command, Lanver Kones, with a small team of UIP intelligence agents, had ransacked Razid Montiego's flat and killed him.

He had one potion of Krith's data, now he just needed the second. Once he had those two portions, he could send them off to be deciphered.

Now he just needed to wait.

"Oh no."

Those two words were all Krith said as soon as the locks on Razid's apartment had been hacked. As she and her 3 human followers entered the apartment, they saw furniture overturned and tossed aside, pictures on the floor, and a single plasma bolt mark on the wall.

On the floor, a human male, middle eastern in ethnicity, with a now blood stained black beard and bushy hair, lay in a small pool of his own blood, a data device clutched in hi outstretched hand.

"I'm going to hack the room's security feeds, this building has them." Lexa said, synching her data device to the room's surveillance feeds. Stepping up, Xale poked the man's body with his foot: "Gun shot, single round. That kind of work wouldn't have created such a mess."

"Guys, the data, I'm checking it now. This device says that the files were copied an hour ago." Krith stood up, her tail rigid and alert, checking the readings from the data disk on her device.

Alex looked over at Lexa: "Any luck on the cameras?" At that moment, Lexa nodded, bringing up a 2-D projected screen.

_**The man examined the data device in his hand, waiting patiently on the couch, gazing at the papers he had on his living room table. A voice at the door startled him:**_

"_**Razid Montiego! Open up, UIP intelligence bureau!"**_

_**Panicking, Razid began to stand up, ready to make a break through the back rooms, into the alleys below.**_

_**The door was kicked in, the thin metal sliding door no match for a well placed blow to the middle with bionic enhanced legs. Spinning in shock, Razid could barely open his mouth before a single plasma shot hit him in the heart, sending him spiralling to the floor, landing face first on the ground.**_

_**Into the room marched a dark skinned human, saying calmly: "Target down. Data drive is in his hand now. Set up the apartment for our ambush, I'll get a copy of the data."**_

Bringing down the screen, Lexa looked up, her eyes suddenly widening, just as 3 small bursts of stun fire hit each of the humans in the back.

As Alex, Lexa and Xale fell, immobilized but aware, Krith span around, and saw Lanver Kones standing there, with 2 human UIP agents behind him, heavy pistols pointing at her: "Krith Lovisk. I'm glad we caught you with this set up. Now we can get to business."

"What business?" She asked aggressively, her claws extending a bit from her feet and hands slightly. Raising his pistol slightly, Lanver said: "The data you gathered in Cambridge yesterday. You want to collect its second half from that man there on the floor, the data drive he has. Well, lucky for you, we both have something the other wants, and as I presume we're after the same thing, I propose a copy of each other's information."

Krith studied the dark skinned human, seeing the determination in his eyes, and yet, he was unaware completely of the 3rd portion of data. Snarling, Krith decided to test Lanver: "What's so important to you about this data? And how do you know getting these two fragments will help you more than me?"

"Because Krith, we are more equipped, and because of that we are better suited to tackling this internal espionage that your hidden information is so critical on finding. Give us the information, and we shall give you the second half, everyone wins, so long as you also return to normal intelligence duties within 3 months."

Now Krith was impressed at his unawareness of the third data portion. Beneath her feet, their faces down on the floor, Xale was smirking at Lanver's lack of information, whilst Alex and Lexa were still surprised by Lanver's role in this, though him not being out to kill them was an improvement over other pursuers.

Growling, her acting skills coming on, Krith said: "Alright. I'll get you the first half of the data, but give me the second half. I'll also download it from the drive itself, in case you did anything to the data."

Begrudgingly, Krith synched up her data device to Lanver's, as the second batch of data was transferred. Meanwhile, she walked over to the data drive, and while sending Lavner the first batch of data, she downloaded a second copy of the second data lot onto her device.

Leavign without another word, Krith stood there, waiting for her 3 human companions, who had been unrecognized, and without choice, silent, to get out of their stunned states.

**10th chapter up and done.**

**Just for reference: Ma'lekri, the male Vulcan and UIP intelligence operative, was the one from Into the Darkness chapters 8 and 9, the same Vulcan who proposed Alex, Sru'sky, Trion and Quirinth go to the Frosian military academy. He worked undercover in the Sril'sask underground gladiator rings, and took part in the riotous escape.**

**Please review, I could use feedback on my story [series] so far. Any good/bad things? Any suggestions?**


	11. Chapter 11

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 11: Data Hound part 2, the past reemerges.**

**23rd September 2901**

**Sol system, Earth orbit, Liberator/Dawnbreaker NKI fleet.**

"Case settled, I am never going anywhere without some form of protection from stun fire." Muttered Xale. Lexa agreed, rubbing her head as they exited the building an hour after they were ambushed: "We only took mild protection against killing shots, not stun fire. Whose idea was that?" She directed the last question at Alex, currently walking alongside Krith ahead of them.

Muttering a few unintelligible insults, Alex shot back: "I thought if they ambushed us it would be with killing shots only. Besides, at least Lanver didn't recognize any of us. But he still got the data."

"But so did we." Said Krith, somehow not bothered by it."

"But now he can get access to the third batch of data, he can find out what we're gathering!" Xale argued. Krith shushed him with a quick hand to his face, explaining:

"Listen closely. Lanver said he was asked to find both sets of data, at when he would have all the pieces. He said BOTH. He doesn't know about the third data set yet, so we have a head start on him, since I transmitted the second batch to Jarothes already, and he'll finish retrieving the third batch by the time we're back aboard."

She shrugged, saying also: "Besides, once they get all three data pieces, which they will, they'll see its not incriminating any of them or us, and may leave us alone."

"Maybe, but what if, I don't know." Lexa was about to say something, but she retracted her words. Alex asked: "Something on your mind Lexa?"

"Well, why was Lanver here? Why were they after the exact same data as you? If they wanted to ask, and we feared no repercussions, why did they send in such unnecessary force to get the data? Its like someone in the intelligence was really worried about the information."

"You think there might be someone in the UIP intelligence who doesn't like what we're doing?" Krith asked. Thinking, Alex remembered what Jarothes said about his uncle and the other scout:

"Well, Jarothes did say the last scout and his uncle invested into war profiteering ventures. With the scale of this war, who knows how much wealth the other scout assimilated, at least compared to Jarothes's uncle. That much money, he might have influence."

"And he wouldn't want us possibly exposing him. I know this is all theoretical, but you make a point. This seems too coincidental to be chance." Krith noted.

Coming out of the alley, they emerged onto a large street, with an overhead road platform passing over them, and shops open for the dinner rush and evening commuters, the vast majority humans. The searing Hawaiian sun beat down onto their skin, or scales in Krith's case, reflecting in the glimmering blue Pacific Ocean about a mile away down the long street.

"In any respect, they can't get any more information until we have a new lead. Even if both us and them get all three pieces, its not complete evidence. We don't even have a name, or an address. Just a bunch of UIP and Alliance transactions with munitions and ship manufacturers. So we can narrow it down to one or more vast war profiteers." Krith said, dissatisfied with their findings, and what they will likely be. She had a vague recollection of the data she squirreled away, but only what she saw. Before she could fully analyse it, she had to hide it on Earth to avoid detection.

"So with Jarothes getting the third batch of data, after that, we're at a dead end." Summed up Alex. Scowling, Xale muttered: "Ah great."

Deciding to head back to the spaceport, and make their next move there, Lexa saw a news bulletin on the network terminals and large screens, detailing a new Dreadnought raid.

"**Breaking news, the planet of Rau-4 was attacked yesterday in the first in a new series of civilian targeting dreadnought raids deep into UIP territory. The attack on Rau-4 has been confirmed to be an indiscriminate strike against the heavily colonized world, primarily a high tech industrialized planet, and casualty rates are estimated at around 1,000,000 dead by today from the planet's roughly 32 million population."**

"**As of this moment there are 3 other raids underway in other systems, but besides the names no further information can be given. The Rothrian, Frosian and Ceita systems are under attack by dreadnought fleets."**

"**Unusual information coming from Rau-4 reports that there are no Leg'hrul specific ships escorting the dreadnought fleet there, and similar reports before jamming signals began have trickled in from the other attack sites. This is presumed to be linked to the recent political infighting between the two Kings-"**

Cutting off the link, Lexa looked at the others, each exchanging a concerned glance. Muttering the names of the colonies under her breath, Krith said: "They're not military specific targets, this is different. And Ceita, that's only 30 light years away. They've never come this close before."

"A million dead on Rau-4 alone at least. I can't believe it." Said Alex. Noticing the looks of shock and horror on some people's faces in the space port terminal hall, Xale saw a older woman clutch her husband's frame in grief, while the man began to bow his head in grief also. Perhaps they had relatives on Rau-4 or the other colonies, Xale would never know, and he knew he would be better off not knowing to maintain his level head.

**Dawnbreaker comms room.**

"Look at the facts. No Leg'hrul support ships, these raids do not have support from the Leg'hrul. Which means the Kro'nogri are heading these new raids." La'kias noted, examining what reports they had on Rau-4.

"It would make sense, considering the physical disagreement my brother had with Rho'kis not too long ago. I still can't believe Lo'rath allowed this to happen." Commented Sha'krii, still in awe and shock at her brother's approval of such massacre.

"**That is not all, reports are coming from the Underworld Guild contacts in Alliance space. Kal'sik is leading these new raids from the lead Dreadnought, the newest in the field currently, and the most advanced." **Raxler reported in. Shockwave seemed to be contemplating the reports, but in reality, he was waiting for the opportune moment to spring his proposal, and decision should they disagree.

"**Kal'sik. That slippery bastard. He's attacking civilians now? And he's now effectively a dreadnought! Even if we got the one we captured upgraded and under our control, we don't stand a chance. He can effectively command 7 dreadnoughts, including himself. And who knows how short a time until he has the 8****th**** and last dreadnought to command! I've seen what one of them can do, one of the older models. In a head to head fight, we can't win against him." **Alex reported in, his voice angry and hopeless at the same time. Norstith hated the truth, but he knew it was true. Those dreadnoughts were simply too powerful to fight head on.

"**It is because of that fact that I must perform my duty to my race." **Shockwave's hologram spoke now. Everyone in the room, Sha'krii, La'kias, Kirth, Norstith, Alex , Krith Lovisk, Jarothes Hutreck and Raxler looked at Shockwave in surprise. Continuing, the cycloptic mech issued his statement: **"Kal'sik has made a declaration to destroy all UIP species to protect his and the Alliance. As such, I feel I can be more use by rallying support from my own race to defend ourselves, and provide the means to launch a strike force when the time comes. Cybertronian tech will likely always exceed any other technology level, and I am influential in some areas of combat experience."**

"Where are you going with this? Asked Krith, her voice becoming a bit concerned for the mech's calm monotone. Blinking his optic once, Shockwave said: **"My race has perfected warfare by fighting among ourselves. I was second in command of one of the two main factions in the Great civil war to Megatron and the decepticons. I intend to rally many former decepticons still versed in warfare to fight as a small, lethal force against the Alliance."**

"Are you insane! That kind of movement would spark off all sorts of panic within your own race! An ancient faction rising amidst all this chaos of war?" Jarothes tried to make the point clear. Optic narrowing, Shockwave said in a threatening tone: **"DO NOT lecture me on the behaviour of my own race, Grey. I proposed the idea, and I shall take full burden for it if it goes wrong, as I doubt it will. Many decepticons have war built into their nature, and I still maintain contact with many of my former officers under Megatron. This is my decision, and if it succeeds, you will have at least a hundred or so powerful Cybertronian warriors at my command, for me to follow you into battle against the dreadnought forces."**

Alex thought for a moment. He had studied his basic galactic history enough to know about the multi millennia civil war on old Cybertron, and knew of the brutality of both factions against one another, particularly the decepticons. However, he also knew of how powerful an individual decepticon warrior could be.

Sha'krii asked honestly: "You believe you could rally support on your planet?"

"**Many former decepticons crave warfare, and in the case of those not permitted to join as punishment, I shall present to them a chance to fight again. Their controversial view of organics, and their sense of technological superiority, can be directed in a destructive, beneficial matter. As many comment on current battlefields, a single cybertronian warrior is worth at least as much as a tank is in combat."**

Thinking for a moment, Norstith noted: "You really followed us out of it being the most logical path, so perhaps, this might be the most logical path to pursue in your case of your role."

Looking around, the members present, including the UIP race members, couldn't find an excuse to argue against this. Sha'krii stated: "If this could have repercussions for us if it goes wrong, I have to ask Shockwave, are you prepared to assume full responsibility for the actions of these proposed Decepticon followers you seek to gather?"

"**Affirmative."** With Shockwave's response, the decision was made. The NKI would have plausible deniability, while Shockwave would set out alone to New Cybertron undercover, to gather old allies.

Later, Shockwave was ready out, already in attack craft form in the Liberator's hanger. Over the comm network, multiple calls came in:

**Alex: "I assume there's no changing your mind?"**

**Shockwave: "No."**

**Se'rie: "We'll miss you big guy."**

**Shockwave: "Statistical chances are that I shall more likely return triumphant. My main concern lies not with the UIP and possibly former Autobots, but with the higher ranking former Decepticons. Some of them are known to be power hungry and egotistical."**

**Aru'san: "Your communication frequencies are exhibiting traces of a flat tone of sound. Are you emulating despair."**

**Shockwave: "No, I am not positively anticipating making former equal ranking Decepticons bow to my will. Senseless conflict could arise."**

**Alex: "You're problem now."**

**24th September 2901**

**Sol system, Earth orbit, Liberator/Dawnbreaker fleet, Dawnbreaker conference room.**

A day after Shockwave had left, and the political visit on part of Sha'krii, Kirth and La'kias was well underway. The last official visit was done, and the 2 NKI ships were not due to depart for another day.

In wake of Kal'sik's dreadnought attacks on heavily populated areas, Alex had issued an order the day before, with approval from his fellow NKI officers, to have the captured dreadnought be finished with quickly assembled armour, weapons and software within 2 days, all that was needed to render it operational. There would be very limited warheads for the main superweapon on the dreadnought.

In an ultimate act, Sha'krii had issued a general order to any available NKI fleet forces, to fly to the Solaris cluster, and group with the dreadnought as it headed for UIP space. If they wanted to keep UIP support, they needed to act.

In the meanwhile, the fact that business on Earth was done sprouted some concern in a few minds among the NKI members, especially with the developing situation only a few light years away.

"**According to tracking of the fleet movements, Kal'sik is focusing his efforts within this sector, roughly 30 light years in diameter. There are 4 homeworlds of UIP species there, for Humans: Earth, for Na'vi: Pandora and Keletari, for Greys: Nelerann, and for Vulcans: Vulcan."** Raxler pointed out on the star map, his image over the holotable in the Dawnbreaker comms room.

"Our contacts in the Alliance and Underworld Guild have confirmed that Kal'sik wants to strike the UIP hard, namely the homeworlds. He hasn't hit any yet, the UIP fleet are holding back his progress. But, if he is to hit a homeworld, it would likely be the Grey homeworld, Neleraan." Noted Kirth, gauging the distance and predicted path of the dreadnought fleet.

"**But that's in the Sirius system, only about 8 light years from Earth! And 10 light years from Alpha Centuari! If he gets the Grey homeworld with the dreadnoughts he has, he'll kill possibly billions, with or without heading to Sol or Alpha Centuari afterwards!"** Said Lexa.

"**Our own dreadnought and the NKI fleet won't be anywhere near there for another 4 days. And we can't engage the dreadnoughts ourselves and hope to make a difference." **Alex commented, his scowl deepening with each moment he studied the map.

Suddenly, the communications console lit up with a high priority message alert. From an unknown target. Bringing the message onto speakers only, Sha'krii answered: "Who is this calling?"

"**This is fleet Admiral Edward Matthews. We've been trying to get a hold of the visiting NKI command for two days now, but we only just repaired our communications. We were requested by the Dreadnought fleet leader, Kal'sik, to pass on this message, in exchange for a 3 day ceasefire. We have one day left, and you have a message to hear from him."**

Sure enough, a recorded message appeared on the screens, able to be played at will. Glancing at each other, hologram or real, they elected to hear it. As they played it, a weak worm program targeted the weakly protected ship intercom firewalls, making sure everyone organic or artificially intelligent heard it, broadcasting all over both ships.

"**I speak to the NKI leaders now. You fight is hopeless, your gathering of support from these retched lower races and their government is but a display to me of how desperate you have become in the face of true power. Accept your inevitable defeat in this war, both here and in Alliance territory. When I am done in the UIP, any NKI personnel who do not surrender shall burn under my fleet's firepower."**

"**Sha'krii, your brother granted me the tools to carry out what was necessary in this war, for the survival of our species and the Leg'hrul. Your betrayal shall seal your place in history as one of the greatest traitors in history. A martyr to a losing cause."**

"**Kirth, your skills are wasted on the losing side. Your insolence shall be your own undoing. And any of your followers would be best to wise up and abandon you. The same goes for you Norstith, and like Kirth, you shall perish in the fires of the end of the UIP."**

"**I now speak to the humans and the mech, particularly Alex Hunter and Shockwave. You fight against your inevitable fates, and I have not easily forgotten the humiliation you handed to me in the Varya operations nearly a year and a half ago. Know this as you watch world after world burn, you only made their suffering prolonged. I shall personally erase every trace of your disgusting species from the face of the galaxy, and if I find you, when I find you, I shall slowly kill you, in every way most agonizing to you. I shall hurt you, I shall hurt your loved ones, every planet you so much as took a step upon, until you eventually realize how hopeless your fate is, and the prospect of extinction becomes a merciful fate in your eyes."**

"**I offer you two options. You can come to me, and ensure your fate earlier in hope of a quicker end, or you can let world after world suffer while you run and hide in a useless attempt to gather assets against the Alliance. Either way, you will eventually die. But I shall not say that I am looking for you personally, for I know the dread and guilt over my wrath being further unleashed by your cowardice shall be enough to torture you. This is a certainty."**

**Dawnbreaker/Liberator fleet, Liberator conference room.**

No one spoke, no one knew what to say.

Gripping the edge of the holo-conference table almost hard enough to warp its metal frame, Alex found his vice again, saying to Sha'krii's hologram:

"He is insane. We can't face him, your brother was a fool to let him have command of those ships!"

"**Calm yourself Alex! We have not lost yet, as long as we gather support enough, and Shockwave gathers his decepticons-"**

"Look Princess! Don't you get it! All we would be doing is gathering our assets into fewer targets for Kal'sik to lay waste too! That would be playing into his hands!" Argued Alex.

"**Hunter! THIS is exactly what Kal'sik wants, not to prompt us into gathering our forces, but to intimidate us! If we begin to panic, we will lose the fight!"** La'kias snapped, his temper fraying a bit. Xale snidely remarked back: "Oh, and have you got any bright ideas about what to do La'kias! Anything could be useful at this point!"

"**Excuse me?"**

All eyes snapped to a new addition to the holo conference, as Alex, Xale, Lexa, Raxler, Azula, Aru'san[via audio and camera link], Morthas, Ja'hail and Se'rie looked at the Dawnbreaker holograms, to see Krith Lovisk and Jarothes Hutreck enter beside Sha'krii, Kirth, La'kias and Norstith.

It had been Krith who spoke, her hard voice penetrating the arguing:

"**We have more information on the leads, on the scouts." **She said.

"How would that help us now?" Asked Ja'hail sceptically. Wiping his smooth, grey skinned forehead, Jarothes continued:

"**We found a way to get our hands on the information we need to identify the final scout. We would know, but before our other colleague, Bal'toro, could tell us in a secure place, he was killed by a poison."**

"We know that. What is the news you have about it?" Lexa asked expectantly.

Nervously, Krith said: **"On the same trip on which I visited Earth for diplomatic reasons for the UIP intelligence, and hid my data batches, I had to stop on Pandora on the same tour, for diplomatic reasons also. I heard about something, it's confirmed, but hard to utilize to an extent."**

"What is it?" Asked Azula, her patience wearing thin.

"**On Pandora, when they are buried, like Bal'toro was, the plants have formed a superorganism, a neural network, across the whole planet right? Well, I also heard about certain sites being hubs for this 'information'. If Bal'toro was buried in his home clan, maybe, just maybe, the memories of his life, and possibly his entire mond, could be intact in that network, at a specific site."**

"**She is talking about extracting the information Bal'toro gathered directly from that organic network. It is the only way we know of to extract the information, any copies of the data he gathered were destroyed before Krith could get her hands on them." **Jarothes added the last part, and finished there, to see the stunned looks on the faces of everyone present.

"I think that turn in prison might have done more damage to you than we thought." Commented Xale. Indignant, Jarothes voiced: **"I am positive it can work. Raxler, what of the feasibility of my proposed method of getting the data Bal'toro gathered?"**

While he processed the inquiry, Raxler remained silent, until his eyes seemed to light up red again, and he commented: "Cross referencing research data available publicly and restricted online has achieved a conclusion. The proposal is entirely feasible, particularly considering that Bal'toro was buried with a minimally decayed body roughly 10 months ago. His body will have decayed entirely, and according to tests, memories can stay intact within the planetary neural network for at least 20 years without disruption without destruction of critical vegetation. However, direct uplink to the network is required to extract the information. Recommend engineering direct interface mechanism, or utilizing a reliable Na'vi experienced in interfacing with the neural network."

"**Yes, which we don't have. I don't think the Na'vi would appreciate us doing it ourselves. Alex, you lived on Pandora for 15 years, which makes you perfect for going, what would you recommend?" **Norstith asked. Looking surprised, Alex asked: "You're asking me? All I've done concerning 'Eywa' is electrocute it and stop it from being controlled. If I go to Pandora, I'll be hated."

"**Actually, we know your history. Only the Omaticaya clan would hate you possibly. Bal'toro was of an Eastern Banshee clan, the Kahtra'ya clan. They are 6000 miles away from the Omaticaya, and they don't use Eywa to send messages. No one would recognize you." **Said Krith, putting ease to Alex's worries.

"Even if we do go, what about Kal'sik's dreadnought attacks? Information points to him targeting the homeworlds right? So in that case, we had better move quickly if we're to even think of doing this." Commented Se'rie.

"**Also, it would be possible, perhaps, for a machine hybrid, or fully machine mind, to relay to us a view into the neural network. In the case of myself, Raxler and Alex, we could even perhaps interface directly, though we would need to make sure we don't take any risks."** Norstith added, stroking his metallic, dark matter disguised neck frill feathers.

Kirth looked at the data terminal in front of him, his talons dancing over the holographic interface: **"I've issued an order for the Solaris dreadnought and accompanying fleet to stop manufacture of additional antimatter shells for the heavy gun on the dreadnought. There are already 6 shells of varying yield, and an additional 6 experimental warheads that were loaded on before it was stolen."**

"Experimental warheads?" Asked Lexa, sounding concerned. Morthas was more interested now, and asked also: "What kind of warheads?"

"**2 Singularity pulse warheads, with singularity expansion explosive force of 1 megatons and 4 Electronic pulse warheads, designed for knocking out any shield technology."**

Hearing of what exactly they had acquired with the dreadnought, and the possibly revealing of the last scout, the future suddenly did not seem so bleak. Sha'krii then said aloud: **"Now that we have a chance to end the war on a diplomatic note-"**

"Unless Kal'sik can't be reigned in." Interjected Ja'hail, his voice bordering on humour and worry. Staring at Ja'hail with a mildly annoyed look, though a thankful one for reminding them of a possible outcome, Sha'krii finished:

"**We need to divide and conquer. The NKI fleet will need expertise, and we also need to not waste a chance to get that data, and reveal the last scout's identity. I propose we send, in the very least, Alex and Norstith to Pandora, and send Raxler to meet up with the NKI fleet as it arrives. Raxler should take the Liberator to meet with the NKI fleet, and we should keep a low profile with the Dawnbreaker also, perhaps send our selected members to Pandora in a less recognized form of transport."**

"We'll sort that out another time. We have at least a day to spare, and I suggest we start by checking the systems on both ships, and then the next day, moving into interstellar space between here and Pandora." Suggested Alex. His proposal met no objections, and in the last moments of the meeting, Aru'san spoke up over the intercom:

"**If I may speak. If it is a less recognized vessel you are seeking to travel to Pandora in, I would be ideally suited to carry at least 2 members on board my frame."** Thinking for a brief moment, Alex shrugged, while Se'rie commented: "Good thinking Aru'san."

Later that evening, the day shift crew and officers of both ships settled down for a rest, and on the Liberator, in a crew lounge, meant for the once organic crew during the KI days, the on board officers relished their time off.

Surprisingly, Raxler turned up to the social down time, a part of his personal self programming, to help him better understand organic behaviour during leisure times. What he called reaching consensus on capabilities of specific firearm variants, Ja'hail saw as a competition for seeing what a synthetic would bring to the table in a debate on guns.

"But the K-34 can't shoot straight for shit."

"Organics tend to find positioning the K-34 difficult for an accurate shot. However, my frame could fire the weapon without it propped into my shoulder, with an accuracy of only 5 centimetre deviance from intended target every 20 metres, while in motion." Argued Raxler. Ja'hail groaned, he was finding it difficult to explain the difficulties of handling the K-34 heavy plasma rifle to Raxler. In the AI's case, the user unfriendliness of the rifle was irrelevant.

Around a small table, Morthas sat with Azula, Lexa and Xale, listening while the two clones recited their brief travels on Earth with Krith Lovisk and Alex. Azula laughed at the fact that Xale was so easily taken down by stun fire to the back.

"Laugh it up Azula. My nose still hurts from landing face first." Said Xale, laughing off the fail on his part as best he could. Lexa idly wondered: "I wonder if the UIP intelligence found out how to get that third data batch yet? Not like it would be of any use, we have a lone final lead now."

"Does graverobbing include robbing memories or whatever?" Asked Morthas jokingly. Thinking, Azula said: "The Na'vi died nearly a year ago, so I doubt there will be a body. Such a revolting way to treat the dead. Its much better to cremate them."

Morthas thought of a humorous scenario to further lighten the mood: "I suppose. I mean, cremate them, they get eaten up by the fire, bit of crackling, a nasty shock if they're not quite dead, but quick, sort of."

Getting the idea, Lexa added on: "Or with burying them, they get put in the ground, and eaten up by lots of little worms, bugs and fungi, very nasty shock if they're still alive somehow."

Looking at the female clone, Morthas laughed out loud, remarking: "Nice. You're like my brother was up to 3 years ago. Until it happened."

Suddenly concerned, Lexa asked: "What happened?"

"Well, up until 3 years ago he was mated you see, to the girl of his dreams." Morthas said, shrugging somewhat.

"What happened to them?" Xale asked.

"He found out she wanted a sex change. He wasn't gay himself, so it was a bit of a shock for him anyway. Imagine being in love with a now guy of his dreams? I swear he's so awkward whenever we mention it now, because he's now mated to the guy of his dreams." Morthas finished, laughing out loud.

Xale laughed at the story, while Azula simply commented as she sipped some herbal tea: "How unfortunate." Lexa giggled quite loudly, happy that she had a friend in Morthas. There were no romantic vibes between them, that was the only thing certain, no awkwardness, simply friendly openness except in the more private matters.

At the bar, Alex had poured himself another shot of beer, a relatively cheap, but good tasting variety. He was drinking away the mild depression that plagued him from the meeting and a more personal matter.

Se'rie was beside him, talking about the hope they had now: "So at least we have a shot at ending the war by diplomatic means, if we get Lo'rath and the UIP to see how stupid this whole war really is."

"Sure, as long as we get away from Earth." Commented Alex. Frowning a bit, Se'rie asked: "You don't seem happy to have seen your homeworld. I know its not what happened in Honolulu with Lanver, so what is it?"

Sighing, Alex placed his glass on the counter, looking at Se'rie in the eyes as he shuffled closed to her side: "Its what I did when I got back aboard. I didn't really have time to look down on Earth, so I, I searched the local government databases on information on my original family."

"Oh, Alex, I'm sorry." Se'rie offered a comforting hand on Alex's, the three digits mixing with his five. Alex shrugged, saying: "It's not what I read, just old memories, old pain of not knowing them and all that. I read about my parents, Valerie and Anthony Damien, and my 14 year older sister, Diane Damien. So technically, I am Alex Damien."

"So that's your birth name. Alex Damien. Not bad I guess, but Alex Hunter has a ring to it." Commented Se'rie. Alex laughed a bit, saying: "My parents were merchants, living in Toronto when not travelling with cargo. I guess that might be why I seemed to suit deliver boy jobs outside of the military so much."

"That's weird isn't it? My parents are merchants too, like your birth parents were." Se'rie said. Nodding, Alex stroked her feather fringe, commenting: "So we have similar pasts, but because of everything that happened to me and by my doing, we found each other."

"Now don't get soft on me Alex. Just count yourself lucky we met." Se'rie teased. Alex laughed a bit once more, leaning in a bit as she tilted her head. Lips and beak met, and they kissed for a few seconds, pulling back with Alex commenting: "I was really lucky we met. And I guess, really lucky to have met you in as few pieces as I did."

"Now let's hope your visit to Pandora goes by as smoothly as this visit to Earth did. Minus of course, being shot in the back." Se'rie added.

"Yes, but I would take stun fire over poisoned arrows to my body any time." Alex commented.

**Finally, chapter 11 done.**

**Pandora here we come!**

**As usual guys, I could use reviews for constructive criticism. Please?**


	12. Chapter 12

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 12: Home journey, labyrinth of lies.**

**25th September 2901**

**Outer Sol system, Dawnbreaker**

It was strange for Alex to be off the Liberator after so long.

Raxler was sent off with the Liberator, to meet with the incoming NKI fleet in UIP interstellar space in 3 days time, in a patch of unoccupied space 20 light years from Pandora. It was agreed that Raxler alone would be enough. For good measure, they relayed this information to Shockwave, who had arrived at New Cybertron that same day,

Everyone else was now aboard the Dawnbreaker, or in Aru'san's case, latched onto its outer hull, as there was no room for her inside. Alex, Xale, Lexa, Azula, Se'rie, Norstith, Kirth, Morthas, La'kias, Ja'hail and Sha'krii were now the ranking NKI officials on the Dawnbreaker frigate.

The Dawnbreaker had begun its short journey from Sol to Alpha Centuari, their first stop being Keletari. They wanted to clear up any legal matters in heading onto Pandora. Once they were in though, their trip to the Kahtra'ya clan was not in need of legal documentation. It could go 'off record'.

And that was precisely what they wanted.

"I'm sorry your trip to Earth had to be cut so short." Sha'krii said aloud, as they were all gathered in the crew lounge. She mainly addressed the human crew members sat around. The Kro'nogri female saw Xale merely shrug in an uncaring manner, while Azula simply said: "I always thought my home planet was the human homeworld. Earth doesn't really feel like a homeworld yet."

Lexa cut in: "Besides, we've got more important matters coming up soon in the next system." She then looked over at Alex, who was staring off into space by the viewing window [metaphorically as well], and said in a low voice: "Something else seems to be bothering him though."

Curious, Sha'krii walked over to the most experienced human ally she had: "Is something troubling you Hunter?" The cyborg human sagged a bit, saying: "Nothing important, just, this trip we're taking now to the next system is, bringing back bad memories."

"If you share it, you might feel better about it, knowing perhaps that others might understand it." Sha'krii offered. Behind her, Se'rie had gotten up, and just as she got to Alex's side, he said:

"This was the same shipping route my parents took my sister and me on over 22 years ago. The one where pirates ambushed them, and where I only survived because I was in an early launched escape pod. It just seems so, haunting, somewhat, that I'm travelling the exact same path that led to their deaths." Se'rie gently lay a wing on his shoulder at this moment, and leant into his shoulder softly, rubbing his face with her head comfortingly. Pulling away, Se'rie said: "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I didn't want to draw attention to my problems that I've long since buried."

Sha'krii saw a look in his eyes, and asked: "You miss them, don't you? It is only natural to miss ones parents dearly, I should know."

"Yes, but as I recall you telling us, your mother was killed by Kro'nogri radicals, and your father was killed probably by that last scout. As far as I see it, I can see this upcoming revealing of the scout as an act of revenge on your part."

Turning to face Sha'krii, Alex asked her now: "Tell me, when you think of that last scout, who you know killed you father, what do you think?"

"I feel a sense of hurt and loss, and a drive to set things right. Especially considering what my father's murder did to me and led into with this war."

Alex was silent, and noted aloud: "That's probably what my adoptive family feels like still because I killed my stepfather in an insane move. I've learnt all too well what a drive for revenge can do to myself. But, with you, I know that seeking revenge on that scout is the right thing to do, wherever he is."

"In this case, revenge would be justice, maybe not enough for everything he supposedly set in motion." Se'rie commented, her voice spiteful. She had seen the details of some of the dealings made by a single individual or group, and there was confirmation of a former career as a scout, and a mention made nowhere else in UIP records, of predated contact with the Alliance, with a Grey scout, and a female Vulcan scout who died on the tour. Everything but a name, some history details and more dealing information. All it said was the scout, Oro'naze, had his identity changed a few years after the Alliance incident, but his records remained intact. Only a name change would do something like that,

**25th September 2901**

**Rau system, interplanetary space, lead Dreadnought.**

_**Pandora is the target of the NKI leaders. Our informant was very generous with his offer in including this information. I can deal with a few personal grudges, a homeworld gets attacked anyway, and my partner keeps his end of the deal. Considering the proximity of Alpha Centuari to Earth, I suppose I could move onto that pitiful planet after I am finished with both leading Na'vi worlds.**_

Kal'sik pondered this information while his mobile vessel, or his old, upgraded body, was inert and offline. All the processing of the information he was sent was easy for his mind. There were no other programs in the network aside from assistance programs or protection programs. He was the ship, the ship was an extension of his will, his skills, his power.

In the interplanetary vacuum, the leading dreadnought hung in position, the wreckage of a handful of UIP cruisers and battleships floating a few dozen to hundreds of kilometres away. Fragments of armour and engine parts marked the trails where the other UIP ships had fled the system after the 3 day ceasefire ended today,

_**I suppose my partner is useful. He has great influence in the UIP, and he was kind enough to give me valuable intelligence on the planetary defences around the homeworlds. It was not the first time he was useful, he was certainly as helpful with the Varya operations, slipping me advanced Cybertronian virus coding for use o Shockwave.**_

_**As long as I hold up my small end of the deal, he will provide me with usable intel. I'm sure that if he is willing to cooperate, I can allow his race to survive to serve the Alliance. After all, he did also bribe that captain to send the message to the NKI fleet, allowing me to 'prompt' them into finding the last segment of the hazardous data to my partner.**_

_**As much as I despise the UIP races, I cannot bring myself to stand by and let such a valuable ally be revealed and taken down. He is too useful to me!**_

His calculating done, Kal'sik comm'd the dreadnoughts in nearby systems that were attacking. He ordered one to cease attacks on the asteroid mine communities in the Kar'len system upon destroying all mission critical targets, namely all of them, and head through FTL as fast as possible to the Alpha Centuari system, which would be the next day at the earliest.

**25th September 2901**

**Alpha Centuari, Prometheus orbit, between Keletari and Pandora, Dawnbreaker.**

After a brief 1 hour flight, and 3 hours of seemingly illogical bureaucratic nonsense, the Dawnbreaker was cleared to enter Pandora's orbit.

In the comm room, a 3D scan of the moon was up and running, with key locations across the planet on the display. They wanted to look up all they could on the Kahtra'ya clan before they descended, undetected yet legally, to the surface to drop in for a possible memory recollection. As it was decided, the non-operating crew of the Dawnbreaker and visiting officials would be divided accordingly. For now though, Krith Lovisk and Alex studied the map of the clan's claimed territory. Pointing out notable geographical features, Krith explained to all present and watching:

"There's a very large collection of superconductive metal among the cliffs, and powerful magnetic fields. Not as powerful as other sites on the moon, but enough that the shapes of some stacks and arches out from the cliffs couldn't support themselves, or are even floating in the air, connected by old plant vines. The clan uses these floating islands to get further out from the cliffs for better fishing spots, and to capture and tame their flying sea Banshee mounts."

Alex looked at the scans, and noted: "The Kahtra'ya live in huts, built structures. Rainforest vegetation is restricted at the cliffs and coast edge, and they live off the sea. There are suitable sites into the neural network not too far from the village. If we convince them to help us, or we have to do it ourselves, preferably not, we can use these sites."

Looking around, Norstith added: "Myself and Alex have synthetic uplinks that we can use if need be, in case we cannot convince a Na'vi to help us. We are required to go. I can only for certain say who should not go. Jarothes, you are presumed dead or missing, so you're out of the question." The small grey nodded his head at this, saying in return: "And perhaps bringing every possible human with you would be best? In case they are concerned with the non-UIP race members you will inevitably bring?"

"I couldn't agree more. Azula, Lexa and Xale must come, to not make it seem biased entirely towards the Alliance races." La'kias noted, scratching his chin scales absentmindedly. He then added: "I can offer my attendance, as I am less recognized and less infamous than some of our other members."

"In which case I shall attend with you La'kias. You know perfectly well that you operate better with partner than alone. Although unfortunate for your future of operational independence, you will have my help." Kirth said, his beak curved into his race's equivalent of a smirk. Sighing, La'kias snapped his head to Kirth, saying exasperatedly: "And I suppose the help of certain, narcissistic members is a welcome relief for our goal."

"You know what, looking at us all, I think we all stand a chance of increasing mission success if we all go, minus Jarothes of course. And maybe Aru'san should stay out of sight unless needed." Morthas said. Se'rie agreed, and looked at Krith: "You know the most about Bal'toro among us going, we'll need you to try and help us convince them to help us."

"Who said I would refuse?" Krith said.

"Alright we're in agreement then. We shall all head down, with Aru'san ferrying 2 advance members to scout out the area before we go in formally. No close contact in the case of the scouts, distance observation only." Sha'krii noted.

**25th September 2901**

**Alpha Centuari, Pandora, Kahtra'ya clan**

Aru'san flew in, cloaked in her thin layer of dark matter to obscure her draconian form from visual sight. Inside, Lexa and Alex occupied the two seats, situated in a very concealed compartment in Aru'san's torso.

The air was mildly foggy, the mist from the seas coming from the morning weather, and also from the steam rising from the volcanic shores 2 miles away from the edge of the floating island rock field. Further up the coast, the active volcano spewed out runny lava consistently, erupting in columns of water vapour as it cooled on contact with the sea.

Flying through the floating rock field, Aru'san banked and weaved, the dragon shaped AI flying 30 metres above the sea, the tall rock formations rising ominously out of the fog like black towers and arches. After navigating at a slower pace, Aru'san engaged her antigravity drives, and with a gentle flap of her wings, the synthetic beast set down atop one rock stack out in the coastal island formation, near the mainland cliffs.

Leaping out, Alex and Lexa got out basic surveillance kit, either built into helmets or handheld. Alex signalled to Aru'san: "Aru'san, can you lay low under cloaking on this stack at sea until we call you again?"

"Yes. I shall leave myself ready to engage in a possible combat or evacuation mission, and shall wait here." The AI responded, her voice low. It was eerie how much a voice could carry in these rock tower fields, so quietness was key.

Acknowledging Aru'san engaging in radio silence, Alex and Lexa lay down on an outcropping of the large rock stack, switching to binocular vision. Through their visors, they saw the early rising fishers and hunters preparing, and the night guards preparing for their off shift:

"Looks like we came by as breakfast started." Lexa noted. Alex reminded her: "Or as breakfast is about to be caught. In my clan they hunted animals in the forest, much more violent and dangerous. We might have been lucky with a fishing clan, perhaps they might be more peaceful and reasoned with more easily after all."

They then switched to viewing the largest wooden hut, obviously the leadership hut. From inside came 2 obviously leading tribe members, and one other person, out with them. Alex remembered the basics of his tribal knowledge returning:

"Okay, there are two leaders, a male and female. It looks like the male has more decorations, I see a whole bunch of talismans or something, looks tribe exclusive. I say that he's most likely the Tsa'hik, the spiritual leader. Which would make the female next to him the Ole'kytan, the clan leader. I don't know who the third man is though, his markings and clothing seem a bit different from the tribe's reported customs and what I'm seeing elsewhere."

"Maybe he's a member with a role only this tribe has? I'm not sure myself." Lexa said. Looking again, she said: "Well, at least we know who we should go to with our request now."

"Aru'san, are you transmitting all this to the Dawnbreaker?" Alex asked.

"Yes. Transmission feed is operating at optimum speed. They heard everything."

"Okay, good. I guess they can send the shuttle down, we'll head on in and give them a premature warning of the visitors. If I recall, it's the duty of the Tsa'hik to be at least aware of basic goings on offworld, at least with the Na'vi at large, and so the UIP. We might not be as unexpected as I fear."

"**Understood. Kirth out."**

Closing the commlink, Alex looked at Lexa, who offered a gesture to the clan in the distance to her genetic source: "So, do we fly, or walk?"

"Let's walk across the bridging vines, sneak in and walk into camp. It'll attract less attention, or at least be less threatening."

As the shuttle was dispatched early, the two humans had snuck past under cloaking, making their way across the half mile stretch of vine bridges to the clan, perched near a 30 metre tall cliff edge. The waves crashed against the hard rocks at the base, though with the constant gravity from Polyphemus, and only a few boosts from neighboring moons, the force of the waves varied little overall.

At the proper entrance to the 'village' Lexa and Alex stood in a bush, concealed from view. Summoning up the courage to emerge, and conceal their heavier weapons as best they could, they ventured into the village. For a few moments they remained unnoticed by the Na'vi exiting the huts, themselves still having woken up literally a few minutes before. After those few moments though, the whispers began to fly across the village, and a few voices raised in questioning as to why there were two humans here. Although humans were respectable allies now, it was still alarming to see 2 emerge so suddenly out of nowhere.

Walking through the village, they ascended a small, raised area, atop which the clan's chief hut rose. While the third, unknown man was standing off to the side watching them, along with the rest of the clan gathering to see the two humans, the Tsa'hik and Ole'tycan stood forebodingly, their blue skinned, thin tailed humanoid forms towering over them at roughly 10 foot each, compared to Alex's 6 foot 8 and Lexa's 6 foot 4 inches. The Tsa'hik addressed them in English, her accent harsh: "Who are you two?"

A few moments in, and Alex gave Lexa a look of approval. Honesty was key to getting their cooperation. Lexa spoke in simple terms: "We are representatives of a revolutionary group, in the galactic war. The NKI, have you heard of them?"

Looking at her mate and Tsa'hik, the Ole'tycan, dressed in a torso covering, single garb of orange and yellow decorative fabric, mused aloud: "We know vaguely of them. You fight within the enemy side, to bring about a peaceful end to the war. But you are human, why are you with them?"

Alex spoke now, deciding to also reveal that they both spoke Na'vi: **"The NKI has influenced a fair few friendly races, like us humans, to helping them fight the more, warmongering members of the enemy races. We're sympathetic to their cause. But, we are also here on a matter that is, quite, complicated."**

Lexa spoke in Na'vi now, elaborating: **"We have others coming to here also, they all have been travelling the friendly side of the known galaxy to rally support in the UIP for their rebellion. We've come here because this clan might be a key in finding a peaceful solution to the war. We wish to explain it to you privately, before you make your judgement. It is not a simple matter."**

The Ole'kytan stared hard at the two humans, noting the physique of both of them suggested a history in battle, although the male had a larger series of scars on his face as well. She turned to her mate and Tsa'hik, gesturing to the two humans.

Walking up to them, the Tsa'hik bent down to their level, eyeing both of them intently, his piercing golden eyes staring into Lexa's acid yellow ones. Studying her body and the look in her eyes, he spoke to her: **"You are honest in what you say, but you seem to carry a small deal of confusion inside of you. You are unsure of yourself, not in role, but in identity."**

Leaving Lexa mildly taken aback by his analysis, the Tsa'hik looked at Alex now, surprise in his eyes as he eyed the male human. A look of suspicion crossed his eyes, and he said to both humans: "Display your peaceful intentions, and remove your outer clothing and weapons."

Exchanging a glance, Alex said in a low voice: "Well, at least he said outer clothing only."

Stripping her over armour, Lexa now stood in her sleeveless torso top, revealing her slender yet bulky muscles on her arms. Beneath her legging armour was a set of combat shorts, reaching down to her kneecaps. Only her armour boots remained. She was deemed non threatening.

The moment Alex pulled off his armour, and revealed that he too wore a sleeveless vest top and male equivalent combat shorts, reaching to kneecap height, the gasps erupted from the crowd, much to his annoyance. To him, the reaction he was getting from sporting entirely mechanical legs, feet, arms and hands was in fact just as bad as he anticipated. The scarred neck skin around his spinal varya implants did little to help his case either.

"What are you?" Asked the Tsa'hik, in awe and revulsion at the same time. Scowling, Alex said: "I'm human, but I was changed by the enemies when I was enslaved to them [he simplified it so they could understand a very complex story]. They replaced some of my body, improved it, but at a cost. One reason why I fight them."

Seeing the look in Alex's eyes, the Tsa'hik spoke to the Ole'tycan: "They are honest, and they do not seem to be hiding anything that needs to be said here and now." Laying a hand on her mate's shoulder in agreement, the Ole'tycan addressed the clan: **"These humans are trustworthy! Let them feel welcome in our clan!"** A resounding series of mild cheers and hollars rose, and Alex couldn't help but smirk at Lexa, who was beaming in satisfaction also. This was going well so far, they made a good impression already.

Leading them into the main hut, the Ole'tycan introduced herself and her mate: "I am Ole'tycan M'sutna, and this is Tsa'hik Rae'arlan. We are the leaders of Clan Kahtra'ya."

"It's a pleasure to meet you two. If I may, I'd like to apologize for our sudden appearance. We're on a time limit you see, things are happening out in the galaxy that are, terrible, to say the least." Lexa said. Alex added: "A few recent, devastating attacks on worlds with large numbers of people gave us a warning that we needed to act fast to end this war. We recently found out that this clan holds a potential secret that could help end the war."

Eyes widening, M'sutna told Rae'laran: **"Go and fetch our two clan visitors. They may need to hear of this."** As Tsa'hik Rae'laran left the hut to find the two visitors, Ole'tycan M'sutna said: "I am bound by duty to make myself aware of any large scales events out in the galaxy. I recently heard about the dreadnought attacks from a visiting UIP official only yesterday, before he left."

"Then you understand how urgent we are. We're members of the KI as you've guessed, and we have, uncovered a series of hidden truths about this whole war." Alex explained.

Following, the conversation gave a basic overview of the history of the Alliance-UIP war, from the undocumented scouts killing the King out of supposed vengeance and framing one of the people who would visit later today, to the plotting to wage war 10 years later, to the hidden facts that the scouts became massive war profiteers from the war they inadvertently, or purposefully created. Basic knowledge was given that they had gathered all but a few specific details on the last scout, linking him to massive stock deals in the Alliance and UIP, and of him secretly communicating with Alliance, old KI and UIP contacts off record.

"So this person, the scout, is responsible for this whole war? Out of greed?" M'sutna scowled at the thought of a man so vile and greedy to start an interstellar war for his own gain. Musing, Lexa said: "Well, that's what we're not sure of, why he did it. All we know is that we can possibly obtain the last information we need here to bring him in, or at least reveal him. Our, contact, told us herself that one of your members worked with her in the UIP capital, and found the evidence we need."

"Who is it?" Asked M'sutna. Nervous glances passed between Alex and Lexa, before Alex said: "That's where the delicacy of what we're asking comes into play. You see, the person we are looking for is, uh, dead, since nearly a year ago."

"So why did you come?" asked M'sutna. Alex sighed, and said: "Because we know enough about Eywa and how she works, what she can do, to know that while Bal'toro Ini'mara may be dead and buried, his memories will have been integrated into Eywa's greater essence. Those memories, his very being in Eywa, holds the information that could save the lives of billions."

The hut fell silent, as M'sutna wrapped her head around the reason the two humans, and their en route accomplices, had come. They wanted to salvage memories from Eywa herself, of one of the Kahtra'ya's dead members. It seemed unreal. And yet, they were here, as serious as could be, and honest in their approach.

"You realize exactly what it is you are asking of. It is, unheard of, to use the all-mother in such a way." She spoke as sympathetically as she could: "I see your reasoning behind this incredible need, but you must realize the challenges it poses, and the possible consequences from a spiritual point of view."

Almost losing his temper, Alex said in a calm, yet stony voice: "The leader of the dreadnought attacks has vowed to raze very UIP world to the ground until we surrender to the Alliance. He will come here, and he will destroy everything you have ever known. I have met him, he is like a rabid beast, he can't be stopped until the war is done. If we can't get this information from what's left of Bal'toro's mind in Eywa, then this entire planet, Eywa, you, your clan, could be doomed. Please, we need this information. If we get it, we can expose the true killer of the Kro'nogri king, we can put our ally on the throne, and she will end the war."

M'sutna looked hard at the two humans, who despite their smaller size, had spirits as unconquerable as any she had encountered: "You are sure of this?"

"Sha'krii Herensk wants vengeance for her father's murder and her unfair exile. Aside from that she's a peace seeker. The Leg'hrul king has fallen out with the Kro'nogri king. Get the Kro'nogri throne onto a more peaceful position, and the war is over." Lexa summed up.

"M'sutna. We were listening in from this side of the hut. We must discuss this proposal privately. Perhaps I can leave our human guests with our visiting clan members?" Tsa'hik Rae'arlan poked his head into the fire pit room. Nodding, Ole'tycan M'sutna gestured kindly for the two humans to follow. She said as they got to the tent flap:

"You are here at the same time another clan is visiting." Intrigued, Lexa asked: "You have other clans visit from time to time?"

Alex interjected now: "How do you think the clans maintain peace at times? At least we'll have another clan's opinion on this. Which clan is it by the way?"

"The Omaticaya clan. They visited because of a supposed dream sent from Eywa telling them to." M'sutna said. She heard the footsteps suddenly stop behind her just as she reached the tent flap. Looking around, she saw a look of shock and aggravation on the male human's face. He looked at Lexa now: "This could be a problem."

"What is the matter?" Asked M'sutna. Lexa asked carefully: "Out of curiosity, have you ever heard of someone who is associated with Eywa in a few bad and good ways? A human, called Alex, perhaps?"

"I know of him. I was sent a dream reminding me of him a week ago. He tortured Eywa in a maddened state, and was cured from his madness when he murdered his own father. He and his force later saved Eywa last spring season from being controlled, and as such the entire Na'vi race, redeeming him in Eywa's eyes. Why?"

Alex was now surprised at this extensive, yet not too compromising knowledge, and said: "Wow. That's a very extensive knowledge actually. We might actually have hope in reclaiming Bal'toro's memories. Anyway, I am Alex."

Lexa cut in: "The Omaticaya is where he grew up as a victim of a pirate attack. He was taken in. He is worried his history with the Omaticaya might be-"

"Stained?" Asked M'sutna. Seeing their faces, she reassured them diplomatically: "I believe you are trustworthy enough. I trust in Eywa's, and my mate's judgements of Eywa, to know you won't harm her in your right state of mind. The Omaticaya will have to simply tolerate you here. There are only two of them anyway."

As M'sutna left the hut, with the two humans following, Lexa said to Alex: "Well, at least we can count on her support."

"Yeah, I like her already." Admitted Alex.

Coming out of the tent, they saw only one of the two Omaticaya members present for now, the male they saw earlier while scouting. He was a relatively young male, but mature as a hunter. His face was more round, yet his ears and nose were slightly more pointy than one might think for a Na'vi. He looked at the two humans, and a pleasant smile broke onto his face. He likely did not recognize Alex:

"**You are the two humans. I know we are expecting more of you, and some peaceful Leg'hrul and Kro'nogri. It will be interesting to see them as different species. I am Tsu'kal."**

Alex noted he looked to be in early 30s, and he saw nothing wrong with him. He asked: **"I heard there were two of you visiting the Kahtra'ya. Where is the other?"**

"**She just wandered off to help with some of the fishing nets in the village weaving huts. Wait, here she comes now." **Lexa looked at the approaching Na'vi female from the base of the small hill, noting to Alex, who was out of view of the female Na'vi: "Why does she look familiar?"

"**Tsu'kal. Are the human visitors ready for, OH!" **The female Na'vi exclaimed aloud at the sight of Lexa. She noted the armour and clothing that covered her [Alex and her having reclothed to hide themselves a bit]. She was ecstatic to see Lexa again, and promptly bent down to the clone's level: "Lexa! It has been too long since the Varya battles!"

"I've been doing a lot lately, who are you?"

"It's me, Firi'sry! Alex's mother." Lexa's pupils seemed to shrink at her name, and Alex had not heard her, being further away now, looking out at a cliff edge, his face out of view, his body armoured once more. Firi'sry saw the unnaturally still human shape, and asked: "Raxler?"

"How do you know Rax-ler?" Alex spun to face the female voice, only to lose it, and his level head, as he locked eyes with his adoptive mother outside of combat for the first time in the now exactly two years since he murdered her mate, and electrocuted the tree of souls in the ordered experiment.

"Alex." Firi'sry breathed.

"Firi'sry." Alex seethed, his fear returning.

**Long awaited family reunion. Trust me, things will get more dramatic in the next few chapters.**

**As usual, please review if you can offer any constructive criticism, advice, anything a learning author would appreciate. No flames please. In the very least, could I get some reader feedback on this story so far?**


	13. Chapter 13

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 13: Resolution, delve into the past.**

**25th September 2901**

**Alpha Centuari, Pandora, Kahtra'ya clan.**

A reunion of mother and son, at the worst possible time.

Oblivious to all around him, Alex locked eyes with Firi'sry's golden eyes, the female Na'vi also never averting her eyes from him.

To Alex, it was strange to consider that his adoptive mother was the absolute last person he wished to see in the present times. Having effectively ripped her life asunder, what possible good outcome could arise from this meeting was beyond his scope of thought. His red eyes pierced her own, and he looked over her body briefly, noting the tension as a possible signal for an offensive stance. He had his dark matter ready, and he had his built in weapons in his arms. He was fully prepared for any physical confrontation, and it was no contest as to who would succeed. But, he also knew Firi'sry well enough that she would not react more out of anger, like Sru'sky, but would simply be at least disappointed and saddened, hurt. And deep in his buried memories, that hurt even more. Being a disappointment to the parent who supported him more.

At least he had an upper hand, and he had an incentive to avoid a direct confrontation with the data to be recovered in this clan. After all, both Firi'sry and Tsu'kal were visitors only, and the Tsa'hik and Ole'tycan had at least approved them being here. If the Omaticaya visitors didn't like it, if his own mother didn't like it, they could be taken out of the dispute, excluded easily enough.

Pure coincidence was the reason his mother was here, reasoned Alex. Nothing more, and nothing else mattered now other than the data to recover from Bal'toro's grave.

It hurt Firi'sry to see Alex again after so long, under these circumstances. And yet, it all seemed to be appropriate considering the reason the Tsa'hik sent herself and Tsu'kal halfway around Pandora to the Kahtra'ya clan.

Eywa's dream images hinted at a hidden secret, with great influence if unearthed, and prompted the Omaticaya Tsa'hik to send Firi'sry and Tsu'kal to the Kahtra'ya as missionaries. Firi'sry especially was given images and whispers of a reunion with a soul lost in its search for purpose and redemption. And here was the very soul that had caused her the greatest turmoil of all, one who, as painful for her as it was, was still loved by Firi'sry as only a mother could.

But she was no fool, she knew of the suspicion that Alex regarded her with. Her daughter's understandable distrust and hatred of Alex made him suspicious of their whole family now. She also had heard rumours, whispers of the power he wielded among others, and had also seen first hand the destructive abilities he and many others possessed.

He may be her son in her mind, but she also knew to treat him as a potential threat.

"Why are you here?" Alex asked, his voice laced with aggressive disbelief. Lexa stepped back, but slightly towards Alex, fearing an outcome she might not enjoy.

"Eywa sent me, as was said by this clan's Tsa'hik."

"If you're not going to say the specifics as to why you're here, then I have nothing to say to you. I know that nothing I say will make much of a difference." Before Alex could turn on heel and walk off, Lexa seized his robotic arm roughly, hissing loudly: "Don't you think you could make your case to her?"

"You know perfectly well what things were like before I returned Lexa, but you lack the perspective I had into what happened after I was brought back. This is my problem, and I am dealing with it." He roughly seized her arm, his metallic fingers glinting in the twin sunlight for Firi'sry to wince at with slight shock. He finished his point, tightening his steely grip slightly with each word: "As, I, See, Fit."

He released Lexa's arm roughly, the female clone wincing from the slight pain he caused her. Something was different in his eyes, an old anger had resurfaced, not just with others, but much more with himself. Scowling, Lexa pressed her point:

"You think you can do this yourself, but you don't see what's obvious. She's not the person who is hardest to convince to forgive what you did." She looked at Firi'sry, gesturing slightly towards Alex himself, who had his back turned now, purposefully ignoring Lexa's protests as he checked some messages.

"Alex. I do not know how to say this." Firi'sry began. She chose her words carefully: "I understand that you were not completely sane when you, struck down H'nuptec."

"Just say it. I MURDERED your mate for no reason that could possibly justify it." Alex growled, still not looking from his messages on his displayed holoscreen.

Shaking her head, Firi'sry spoke with newfound courage: "If you must further your blame of yourself, then I will say you murdered H'nuptec. But I know enough now that you had no other place to go, you did not have a true choice in the path you walked with that rogue enemy group, that you were deceived. As much as my mate's passing tortured me for a time, it was more painful eventually knowing you bear an even greater sadness about his death. And that you have tried all you can to amend the sins you feel you committed."

Stopping his work, Alex turned around and looked hard at Firi'sry right in the eyes, his red eyes staring up at her yellow ones again. Their height difference did not matter, as Alex fixed his step mother with a gaze that would have sent many people running: "As much as I admire your greater sense of understanding than your daughter, I'm afraid to say, I am not here because of you, as Eywa may have suggested." He placed doubt on the mention of Eywa: "You know fully well why we're here. A secret, one a clan member here took to his grave, one that could help end the war peacefully when fitted together with what we have."

"You further prove that point, you are trying to end the war as a way to redeem yourself, that is your driving force in this conflict." Firi'sry said, a slight ghost of a proud smile on her face. Lexa was boosted by this, and pointed out to Alex: "You see, she's not as spiteful towards you as you thought she might be."

"I could never truly hate you. I raised you since you were a baby, and despite our fear of you being hurt, you developed into a strong young man. You may have been misled, and suffered great pain and hurt along the way." Firi'sry noted his mechanical limbs and remembered the scarred skin around his exposed neural implants: "But I have always been proud of you. I was disappointed in you many times I will say, but my mate and I agree that we can forgive you."

The last sentence spoilt the heartfelt atmosphere for Alex and Lexa, and Alex asked: "Wait a moment. H'nuptec is dead, what do you mean he agrees with you now?"

Seeing some humour in his misunderstanding, Firi'sry said: "In the similar way how the clan member's secret is safeguarded by Eywa, so is my mate. He lives on, and I need only listen to hear him. He is a part of Eywa now."

Brooding for a moment, Alex looked at Lexa thoughtfully, seeing another revelation in this touching fact. Lexa realized it, and said: "So it is true. Entire souls, minds, memories, can be stored within Eywa herself." Beside her, Alex looked at his data messages again, an urgent report coming in from the shuttle descending into the atmosphere, stating recent news.

"She is capable of a great many things." Firi'sry said proudly. Alex then said: "Firi'sry, I, I don't know what to think right now. This is a bit too much to take in right now, especially with what I've just been given information on."

"Is it bad?" Asked Lexa. After reading the report and looking up, Firi'sry was genuinely shocked to see actual fear in Alex's eyes. Without a shred of hope, and with an undignified croak, he simple said: "Yes."

On board the descending shuttle craft, the others en route to the Kahtra'ya clan were still processing the reports from across the UIP.

"A Dreadnought, from the Kar'len system, 100 light years away, has begun heading here, to Alpha Centuari." Sha'krii said the words, still in shock at the sudden change. Morthas nearly exclaimed aloud: "If that ship gets here, it could raze both major colonized planets into ash. Who knows how many billions could die?"

"It is not hopeless. Remember this is a home system, and so it will be heavily defended. I think the dreadnought will have a harder time getting through the defensive ships in this system than they did in some colonized mining or transport worlds and asteroids." Kirth said.

"So that's it, we go down and get the information while the fleet gets blown away?" Se'rie asked, almost disgusted by the notion. La'kias firmly said: "The dreadnought shall take a fair while until it reaches even the outskirts of this system, about a 15 hour journey time. We can be hopefully done and gone by then."

Azula made a saddening comment: "We don't have any other options. We're outmatched against those ships. At least they have a few hours' warning."

"I don't understand it! Why would Kal'sik send a Dreadnought so far into one of the most heavily defended systems alone? I know they are strong, but they have their limits!" Lexa exclaimed. Currently she and Alex had retreated out to a cliff edge, a bit of a walk away from the clan's huts, but in viewing distance still.

"Kal'sik made a vow to incinerate the systems of the UIP didn't he? I don't know, I know for a fact that it's not overconfidence, his machine half now will keep him from making rash decisions. But maybe, maybe because this system was a target from the Varya battles, he wanted to get it first, regain some honour?" Alex suggested, trying to think of why Kal'sik may have suddenly targeted the system's planets.

"Not to mention its only an hour away from Earth by an FTL jump. He could perhaps kill two birds with one stone." Lexa said. Shaking his head, Alex said: "No, a dreadnought alone can't take on both systems on its own. The fleet with this dreadnought is too small anyway, it looks like its after this system only."

"That's comforting." Lexa remarked. Looking at the time on her data tool's chronometer, she said: "The others are due in 15 minutes. We'll need to work fast then, but at least we've got the clan leaders debating over what to do. Maybe this could be an incentive for them to hurry it up?"

"I guess. But I just remembered that Aru'san is still out there hiding in the rock stacks. Maybe we should call her in? I don't want to wait a second if we need to evacuate." Alex suggested. Seeing Lexa's shrug, he sent a message to Aru'san to come in alongside the shuttle, but to fold herself inwards at her neck and tail, and assume a coffin shaped appearance. The last thing they needed now was a possible panic at a large, fearsome flying beast appearing at the tribe without warning, at least, until needed.

15 minutes passed, and Alex and Lexa spotted the two shapes emerge out of the distant clouds. Heading over to the leader hut, they came to Ole'kytan M'sutna and Tsa'hik Rae'arlan, and quickly explained how the situation now had a severe time limit. If they didn't act, the whole planet was at risk. Not that the Kahtra'ya clan would be at risk necessarily, but the entire planet would suffer with possibly several large WMD warheads going off in the atmosphere, namely around the developed colonies.

Afterwards, with the hope of the extra NKI members arriving in a minute, it was seen just how motivating a threat to millions of Na'vi was exactly.

The best thing was to keep the Dreadnought news quiet, for Kahtra'ya was a non military target, and all the clans on the planet were too small to be bothered targeting. Not that the effects of an attack wouldn't be felt, just not in the short term.

Sure enough, with the leaders and clan ready to see the other visitors, the two craft landed in a clearing outside of the village, one a standard Alliance model shuttle, the other a strange coffin shaped craft, with strange metallic surfaces covering it, and was significantly smaller.

No one got off the smaller craft, but the onlooking clan members gazed down upon the strange creatures with the 2 other humans who came with them. The dark haired male and female humans were no spectacle, compared to the 7 aliens that came with them.

Like many visitors to Pandora, the non treated Leg'hrul NKI visitors had been appropriately treated with antibiotics, and the gene manipulation/bacterial interface to allow them to safely breath the normally toxic Pandoran atmosphere. Apparently as a testament to their self proclaimed physical durability, the Kro'nogri were already immune to the toxins of Pandora's atmosphere.

Walking briskly up, Sha'krii was the acting face of the 'diplomatic group', careful with her words in front of such significantly larger aliens, many armed with spears, bows and arrows, and blades. She had done some research on a brief report Alex sent to her on the names, and she introduced herself as a gracious guest would, her translator removing the language barrier and reflecting her tone correctly:

"Greetings. We are the visiting NKI members my companions told you about. I am Sha'krii Herensk, leader of the NKI." Exchanging greetings with the Ole'tycan and Tsa'hik, Sha'krii nodded as Alex and Lexa moved to join the shuttle group. She asked: "And what of our request? Bal'toro's secret in his grave is the key to ending the war quickly."

"It is, a difficult matter. Never before has Eywa been so consciously exploited for a gain." Tsa'hik Rae'arlan admitted. He phrased it as best he could: "Only a trial of this request will see if Eywa will allow it. With the recent news, I would suggest you select your members to possibly bond, or choose from a few I can hand pick for you."

"I believe we could do both, with a member you volunteer, and myself." Norstith came forwards now. Bowing a bit, Norstith introduced his scheme: "My name is Norstith. Owing to some, accidents, I was transferred to a synthetic body. As I am still synthetic, I have some features similar to your bonding queues that have been given to me. I could interact with Eywa possibly, alongside your volunteer. And, so could Alex here." He looked at Alex, or namely, the neural interface on his spine and his metallic fingers.

Alex shot Norstith as dirty a look as he could muster, before admitting: "As reluctant as I am, he is correct. I stand a chance to interact with Eywa myself also." He flexed his metal fingers in front of his face, gesturing to one thing he and Norstith had over the others.

Contemplating, Rae'arlan said to them all: "I shall go with my selected members."

"I will volunteer!" Firi'sry's exclamation came as a surprise to all. Smiling a bit, Rae'arlan said: "Yes. You have experience, an assistant to your tribe's Tsa'hik. That makes one. You will do."

Rae'arlan walked off, while Firi'sry contemplated what she had just volunteered to do. Regardless of who of the two NKI members entered, she had many questions to ask both of them. Not just Alex, but the other.

If there was one thing about people that Firi'sry never forgot, it was their name. She knew of Norstith as the one who Alex was 'mentored' by. And in Firi'sry's mind, he had a lot of explaining to do.

Maybe it would be best if she did the questioning now.

The NKI members had split apart to explore the clan while Rae'arlan was down at a nearby Willow tree site, making preparations and rituals for the procedure, asking Eywa's permission to extract the information that the possibility of galactic peace hinged upon.

As it turned out the non human members of the NKI proved very interesting in how they examined the clan out of vague interest.

"So you're just going to lie there all day until something happens that needs you?"

"Yes."

As it turned out, the hot, dry weather on this day meant that each of the NKI members suffered for better or worse depending on their species. While Firi'sry was searching for a few select individuals to find out more information concerning her son's exploits and his allies, she made sure to see how the others used their limited free time here out of curiosity. As it turned out, the mercenary, one who she had not met at Varya, as a Kro'nogri, was making full use of the hot weather.

And over his sun basking body, the Kro'nogri's torso armour removed for full baking, a disgruntled Morthas stood over him, looking uncomfortable. She knew enough about Morthas to know that he had been an old KI operative and ally to Alex, and despite his past with the KI, he was surprisingly well mannered. Albeit he did make a few comments intended to antagonize at his own amusement. In this case though, his Leg'hrul feather coating made him quite hot in the twin sun weather.

Rubbing his head crest a bit, his wing section extending from his arm slightly, Morthas grumbled: "I hate this planet."

Grinning with wicked amusement, Ja'hail suggested: "That's why you Leg'hrul should stay off hot worlds, you can't take the heat properly. Why don't you go flying to cool off? The air's thicker and gravity's weaker on this planet. Or, you can go shelter in a little opening like the birdie you are."

"Well thank you, and I hope you turn into a well done mercenary in that sunlight." Morthas said. Despite his pride, Firi'sry saw the bipedal avian heading to the nearest shade, under a small awning at a hut's edge, woven from plant fabric to deflect the rare but heavy rainfall.

"It's intriguing to note the architectural differences in a village of a race nearly twice the height of one's own, isn't it? Such vast dimensional differences and proportions." Commented Kirth. Looking around behind his comrade/superior, La'kias scratched his scaly eye ridges, commenting: "I can't say I'm as impressed about the hygiene standards here though. Or their view towards some animals."

It was a strange fact that though the Na'vi were not as weak against disease, they faced the most deaths from the poisonous creatures in this part of the continent.

Reaching a small hut, La'kias stopped quickly, his nose perking up. Sniffing the air, he said to Kirth: "Do you smell that?"

Smelling himself, Kirth faintly detected the strange odour coming from the hut. Walking over, they saw it was a hut used to store materials, food, and other substances, one of which was there.

Smelling the air, La'kias detected familiar scents from trained memory of combat hazards: "I smell, potassium nitrate, urine originated by how it carries a putrid undertone to it. And some other substance, a dusty smell."

Looking in, Kirth commented: "Powdered tree bark shavings. Looking at the amounts, and the workbench set up inside, and I think that this is the site of experimentation into an explosive powder."

"Primitive gunpowder." La'kias said aloud. By now gunpowder was obsolete by all races for weapons purposes, and now served miscellaneous uses only. Kirth also saw other substances in the hut, though they came as less of a surprise:

"Liquids, likely extracted from plants or even animals by their colourations. I would wager any amount of money that at least a few of them are poisonous."

At that moment, something lightly hit La'kias's boot. Looking down and around, he saw a leather ball rolling away from his foot, and saw a group of 3 Na'vi children staring at him and Kirth with silent, either curious or scared looks. Seeing the ball, he walked towards it, picking it up in his clawed, 3 digit hand, and looked between it and the 3 children.

He saw they were 3 boys, roughly between and 10 years old, about 5 and a half feet tall. Their hair was braided into a long ponytail, every one of their hairs black. With Kirth watching also, this was their first in depth look at the Na'vi. Their pointed ears, blue and faint grey striped skin, pointed canine teeth, the narrow tail and their overall lanky build was vastly different from their own Leg'hrul and Kro'nogri body shape.

"I believe the customary action is to return the ball to them. Or do you wish me to remember a time when you forgot almost instinctive knowledge?" Kirth cheekily asked. Snorting in annoyance, La'kias rolled the ball on the ground to them, the ball rolling 10 metres before stopping. He smiled a toothy grin, trying to appear as non threatening as possible.

The most forward boy picked up the ball, and the three boys exchanged looks and smiles at the gesture, until they heard voices, presumably their parents, calling them from around a corner. As the children quickly ran off, La'kias turned to Kirth commenting: "Well, that went as well as expected."

"I just hope that this next encounter can go as smoothly, because I recognize a certain Na'vi approaching us now." La'kias looked where Kirth now looked, and saw the female Na'vi from the Omaticaya clan, Firi'sry, approaching them. Kirth examined her appearance, saying: "Her stance as she walks suggests she is cautious, as is expected. But I didn't see any reaction beyond that to my species when she sees me. I don't believe she recognizes me from Varya."

"But you recognize her?" La'kias asked.

"Indeed. I never forget a face, and I remember her being present in the St. Augustine stadium that night. While I engaged Alex, she was busy with others engaging Zirleth."

La'kias saw Firi'sry draw into talking distance, and commented: "Well, if she happens to mention any animals she controls or befriends, you can stay quiet."

"Excuse me, you two. Why are you so interested in the supply hut?" Firi'sry asked. There was something about the Leg'hrul that seemed familiar somehow, and she could swear she had seen his colour before. It was when Kirth spoke that she began to remember:

"We were just intrigued to see that the Kahtra'ya clan had developed a primitive form of explosive powder. For what purpose would a fishing clan have for such a substance?"

"You were at the colony 1 and a half years ago, you commanded that monster in the stadium." Firi'sry's voice was in dawning realization, and La'kias said to Kirth: "Not as unaware as you predicted."

"I can make misinterpretations. But on a more important matter, I must say that yes, I was at the stadium that night. My name is Kirth, and yes, I command that monster, an Aree'lathor, named Zirleth." Firi'sry was about to ask another question, but Kirth quickly interrupted: "And no I have not brought her with me, she is on the ship in orbit. Although I will not apologize for my actions on the day of the battle. In case you did not notice, I fought with more dignity than many of my other fellow Alliance warriors that day on that planet."

"That is undeniable. But I have heard it was you who began this revolution movement, before you began to find all these other allies of yours. And yet you made yourself only the 2nd in leadership." Kirth shuffled on his talons, saying: "I may posses leadership and tactical expertise, but I lacked the symbolism that Sha'krii would be. She was trained for leadership already, and I could exercise my military organization while she handled the politics."

Seeing the apparent honesty in his expressions, Firi'sry said: "Thank you. Your actions have brought less pain on the UIP for a short time."

"It was an unchallenging task to start this movement, the weaknesses were already there, and it came easily. But the comment is appreciated."

Smiling, Firi'sry walked off, but said as she left: "The explosive powder is used for firework displays on special occasions."

As it turned out, Firi'sry found all the others, meaning Sha'krii, Se'rie, Norstith, Alex, Xale, Azula and Lexa, gathered around the shuttle and other, unknown craft. Like with Ja'hail, Sha'krii had no trouble with the double sun heat, and had even stripped down to her last layer of clothing, a set of thin clothing that covered half her arms and legs, and clung to her lithe, yet armoured form. From what she could see making protrusions in her outfit, female Kro'nogri possessed armoured scale plates around much of their body, except in areas where flexibility was needed, mainly the joints, neck, and the stomach, for expansion during pregnancy.

Se'rie and Norstith were perched on top of the shuttle craft, which was shaded slightly by an overhanging fruit tree. They looked more comfortable than Morthas did, their feathers slightly smoother from having to radiate less heat.

On the ground by the shuttle, Lexa and Azula stood around, bored out of their minds apparently, still trying to kill the last few hours until the site of Eywa was ready for possible tapping. As for Alex, she could not see him, the same went for Xale strangely.

Walking over, Sha'krii looked up at the perched Leg'hrul, namely at Norstith, her gaze hard. He looked down at her, his synthetic eyes drilling into her own. Sensing a need for discussion, Norstith leapt down, and flapped his synthetic wings enough to gently land in front of the significantly taller Na;vi female.

"We both know who the other is, so let's skip pleasantries. I know you have many questions, and I shall answer honestly." Norstith was impatient with heartfelt or deep conversations with people other than his family or friends. All Firi'sry asked was: "Alex, my son. Why did you do everything you did?"

Once more Norsitth recited his tale. Of how he lost his first sister and nephew to a Kro'nogri nationalist attack decades ago, and how he eventually found work in the Alliance military. As he grew to rebel against some Alliance orders, they threatened his remaining family's lives in exchange for his compliance. Said compliance involved luring several UIP members of varying species to the KI, including Alex as a human, due to his notable combat record and psyche profile gaining their attention. That was why he 'corrupted' Alex. He had no choice, one life ruined but alive for 4 lives saved.

After recounting the history he and Alex shared up till now, Norstith was finished explaining. Firi'sry saw the simulated regret, and asked: "You wish you didn't do it?"

"If I had the chance to save my family and spare him and others their intended fate, then I would have taken it. That is why I joined the NKI, because it was the right thing to do. However, your son still hates himself for what he did to you and your mate, but he has become better in the recent year, mainly due to him being too preoccupied with other worries with the NKI."

"He's busying himself to take his mind off it." Firi'sry and Norstith near jumped at the sound of a sly voice coming from right beside them. A haughty laugh later, and Xale appeared, de-cloaking from beside them. He commented: "I love doing that."

"Xale, how many times have I told you that I did not grant you your abilities to use them for childish antics?" Almost snapped Norstith. Putting a finger on his chin, Xale offered: "Um, 20, 21 times?"

Looking around, Firi'sry wondered aloud: "Where is Alex?"

"He's over by the other ship. He's very obsessive with her, making sure she's always working fine and all." Lexa offered, not moving from her leaning position. Mouthing _'she?'_ in confusion, Firi'sry walked over to the very strange craft. Behind her, Xale winked at Norstith, then vanished into thin air, emerging a few seconds later right next to Azula, wrapping his arms around her shoulders affectionately.

He simulated delayed teleportation through an illusion, just to annoy Norstith. And it worked. He heard a set of metal talons land beside him, and Se'rie asked: "That's Alex's adoptive mother?"

Wanting to see how her future mate reacted around his childhood mother, she flew up quickly, coming into a tree overlooking the other craft. Landing on the highest branch, Se'rie noticed Alex's legs sticking out of the cockpit section, the synthetic skin ad armour folded away to reveal the opening to its innards.

Firi'sry saw Alex, or his lower half, sticking out of the craft's top side. From what she heard, he seemed to be talking to himself, or someone she couldn't see or hear:

"All systems green? Good, just don't overdo it next time."

"No of course I won't take control mid flight next time without warning, that was a test. Don't act so insulted."

"Alright, maybe once. But I am not doing that until all systems are ready, especially disguise matrixes."

Pulling himself up out of the cockpit section, Alex noticed Firi'sry looking up at him from the ground as the cockpit folded away into Aru'san's back. He shrugged, saying: "What?"

"I've heard from the others, namely Norstith. You came to view him as a father figure?" Alex could detect a bit of hurt in her voice, and he was silent for a while, before seeing that honesty was the only safe option in the long term: "Well, H'nuptec never really treated me equally to Sru'sky. Don't try to deny it. And, well, Norstith treated me as best he could, though now I see it may have been borne from sympathy for what he was leading me into. He was always willing to help, never questioning me beyond what he should, but he understood me. He taught me plenty of useful things in life, one of which was about family."

Looking down at Firi'sry still, ignorant of Se'rie in the trees, Alex said: "Before I was taken down on Iegris, he offered me some comfort for having to abandon everything I knew to serve the KI, which I thought was best at the time. He said that if my 'family' hated me for what I did, then they weren't my true family. A true family never hates one another. Disappointment maybe, but never hate. I saw the hatred that Sru'sky views me with now, and also Trion, and Quirinth all the way back on Iegris. It makes me think whether I really fit in with them at all. In, I never felt more alive than when I was not serving alongside them, having to constantly prove myself, and strive for approval. I never had to do that for Norstith. Of course I did abandon him, but because of how he was becoming more desperate in his orders."

He gestured widely with his arms, saying: "Firi'sry, this is who I really am. I might not be myself as I once was in some, many areas of my body. But I just want to fulfil my goal to improve lives of people. If it means killing those who take away lives, or ending this war, then I'll do it. The reason many people hate me is because I seem to have no morals, but what they fail to see is that it is precisely that, ruthlessness, that will be needed to end this war. If you don't like it, then just say it now, and we shall leave it at that."

Alex looked away, his mind more focused on Aru'san's system checks than his mother.

After a few minutes, Alex felt something climb onto Aru'san's back, and by the weight, he knew who it was.

_Please fate, don't let Aru'san start moving while she's still on here._

Turning around, Alex saw Firi'sry crouched down, eye level with him on Aru'san's back, again not the best place in his mind.

Firmly, Firi'sry said: "Alex. I now understand you as you always wanted to be. But you made a mistake in your judgement."

Putting both hands on his shoulders, she smiled in a motherly tone that was missing from Alex's life for a significant time: "I never stopped loving you. You are my son, and you always will be. Your sister may not trust you, but know that I will always have a place in my heart for you."

In his chest, Alex felt a welling sensation, a surprise considering his implants of a reactor and pump. His mother forgave him! He did not have to fear her hatred for his acts! A great weight had been lifted from his shoulders, only one though, but it was perhaps the greatest weight. The person who had loved him unconditionally from the start still loved him.

He realized he had to reveal something in return: "Actually, Firi'sry, mother. There is someone else who's already occupied my heart." He looked up at Se'rie, gesturing her to come down from the treetops.

Hearing a flutter of feathers, Firi'sry saw the female Leg'hrul land on the ground beside Aru'san, smiling warmly from her beak. A quick sight caught her attention, and she said in an urgent tone: "Uh, Alex's mother? You probably want to get off there now."

"Why?" Firi'sry asked, before Alex saw it also, and basically shoved her off Aru'san's back. As Firi'sry hit the dirt, she spun around in her surprise, noticing that the front and rear ends of the craft were extending, and the sides folding outwards.

In seconds, the craft was reformed into a massive creature, with grey, scaly skin and metal armour plates on the side. On the front end, a reptilian head opened its mouth, hot air exhaling from its mouth. On top, Alex yelled: "Aru'san! I thought I said when you were done checking your systems!"

"I finished. And I figured you could use some flight exercise yourself." A feminine, almost snarky electronic voice came from the craft's mouth, as it angled its head to look at him, its blue optics/eyes gleaming. It/She rapidly spread the wings, while Alex said: "You need to learn when the best times for flying are!"  
"And I judged this was the best time!"

With a giant wingbeat, and an undetected burst of the antigravity generators decreasing Aru'san's weight to nearly 5 kilograms, the draconian AI took off, with a protesting Alex still on her back.

Looking up in awe, Firi'sry looked to Se'rie for an answer. Shrugging her facial feathers, she said: "Alex's latest creation is a little, overeager when she flies. I blame it on making a machine more capable of feeling emotions, but less capable of thinking straight."

**Chapter 13 up. Please review guys, I really could use the feedback!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 14: Free flight, Eywa's realm**

**25th September 2901**

**Alpha Centuari, Pandora, Kahtra'ya clan.**

"Oh look, Aru'san's having some fun." Noted Azula, her tone amused and unconcerned. The others looked up to see the draconian AI flying off at speed, with a verbally incoherently protesting Alex on her back.

They saw Firi'sry run past them, sprinting back to the village, eyes trained on the beast as it flew out of sight over the cliff edge, towards the sea rock stacks. As Se'rie glided over, she yelled: "Hang tight guys, I've got this!"

Sensing the situation was being handled, Sha'krii turned to the others, saying: "As long as they can control Aru'san, we'll be fine."

"Actually I think the tribe would be very interested to see her. They ride dangerous creatures in flight don't they?" Suggested Xale. Norstith brooded momentarily, his metal feather running under his chin.

Sighing, Azula said: "Xale, I saw the creatures they fly as mounts. Compared to Aru'san, they are like mere sparrows."

"ARU'SAN! TURN AROUND AND LAND NOW!" Screamed Alex, his voice penetrating the rush of the thicker Pandoran air rushing past his face. Bobbing up and down as Aru'san flapped, Alex saw her incline her head to face his own a bit, before she said with some form of humour: "I am testing my flight capabilities. I can't land until I have checked them all. Beginning combat flight patterns."

In a snap roll, Aru'san rolled onto her back, and dove straight down, corkscrewing into level flight once more, flying just a few metres above the waves. On her back, his metal fingers/claws digging into her synthetic back scales and armour, Alex didn't know whether to enjoy this or berate Aru'san. After all, he failed to say to not test until he authorized it for today.

Flying at speeds of roughly 150 miles an hour, Aru'san dipped and banked between the rocky stacks out at the coastal sea. As they flew, Alex clambered to a sitting position, his eyes stinging a bit from the sea spray barrelling into his eyes. Donning his helmet relieved him of that pain.

His on board scanners and radar, despite being hampered slightly by the magnetic fields keeping the unstable stacks and few floating islands, detected a larger, hot body mass taking off towards them higher up. Turning to look up, Alex saw a familiar sight. High above, he saw Firi'sry astride her Mountain Banshee, looking down at him and Aru'san with fear and awe.

Alex was not surprised that her Ikran was here, for there was no other natural way for her to get to this clan. Standing up unsteadily, Alex yelled through his helmet's vocabulator: "Aru'san! Continue testing, but follow my commands here and in future! Do not stray too far!"

Firing up his chest reactor's higher levels, Alex deployed his in built armour turbofan system, and deployed his dark matter wings like a Leg'hrul's. Decreasing his weight with his small antigrav drive, Alex roared directly upwards at high speed, eager to be away from the sea at all costs.

Firi'sry saw an armoured figure fly up to meet her, and with a mild roar, he came into a gentle glide, his own figure slightly upright, alongside her Ikran as she and her flew. Calming her Ikran from the strange figure, she saw that Alex was flying without any other assistance, with great black membrane like wings extended outwards for lift.

"I apologize, Aru'san is a bit unruly when it comes to testing her hardware! I should have known better than to allow her to think more emotionally than other AIs I've worked with." Alex yelled, his synthesized voice puncturing the light wind rush between his armoured form and Firi'sry and her Ikran.

"It is your creation?" She asked. Nodding, Alex looked down at the draconic AI, weaving in between the rocks still, saying: "Not entirely, but yes. What do you think? Her skin is not natural, but grows like any other skin, scales, whatever, and she's also got some powerful secrets hidden away inside of her."

"It is a she?" Asked Firi'sry, looking quizzically at the beast in the rock stacks below. Gunning his turbofan, Alex swooped over to Firi'sry's other side, about to say something, before another voice interrupted:

"That was my idea! She seemed to develop a feminine persona!" Turning his head, Alex looked through his helmet to see Se'rie, panting slightly, had caught up to them. Suppressing a laugh, Alex yelled to Firi'sry: "About what I said before Aru'san took off, this is Se'rie! She is Norstith's niece! And she can explain the rest!"

Flicking Se'rie a quick gesture saying it was her job now, Alex ungraciously flip in mid air before pelting down to catch up with Aru'san. Feathers bristling with annoyance, Se'rie met Firi'sry's gaze, saying: "So."

"Well, what did he wish for you to explain?" Asked Alex's adoptive mother. Se'rie saw no reason not to deny her the truth, as a lie might get her attacked by her flying mount, who she thought was taking hungry glances at her. Se'rie meekly asked: "Can I get on with you before we do this talk?"

As Alex swooped down, he got a call from Sha'krii: **"Alex. Get Aru'san under control, and meet with us. We just got told by Ole'tycan M'sutna that the Tsa'hik is ready to receive you, Firi'sry and Norstith if all three wish to comply."**

Before Alex responded, just as he drew behind Aru'san, La'kias radioed in: **"We also received some interesting news when we searched UIP databases. A UIP spy shuttle landed just 20 kilometres away from the clan, 1 hour before we were cleared to orbit. It came from Earth."**

Thinking for a moment, Alex asked: "Any suggestions, possible reasons?" This time, a call came in from Jarothes, aboard the Dawnbreaker:

"**I can't explain it. Perhaps the UIP are tracking our movements? It is understandable, for security reasons. But only we know of Bal'toro's data stash in his grave."**

"So they might just be watching us? Well, we aren't doing anything illegal, the tribe agreed to it, and if anyone is harmed, it will be me or Norstith. As long as we play it cool, wherever they are, not that it's important, I think the UIP trackers will leave us alone. In the meantime I'll get us back together for the push on Eywa."

Cutting the link, Alex flew in over Aru'san, grabbing a hold of her back, his metal fingers gripping tight on the metallic armour and grey scales. Establishing a comms link to Aru'san, Alex said: "Aru'san, the link to Eywa is ready to receive our selected members. We need to head back, fly up to Se'rie and Firi'sry, gently!"

Complying, Aru'san rose, her wingbeats rising on the dense air, boosting slightly with her lessened weight and small fusion thrusters.

"And so, we're still together to this day, about 16 UIP months ago. He's taught me how to fight and such, because I needed a career after the Alliance quarantine ruined my career chances."

Sitting atop her Ikran, Firi'sry looked at the female Leg'hrul, admitting she was Alex's love interest. Firi'sry shook her head in disbelief, admitting: "It seems both my children have found love outside their own species."

Se'rie briefly remembered back to how Alex's stepsister and the mech on Ki'ristalis were apparently involved. She said: "If I might say, his choice of alien is less, exotic, than your daughter's. It probably isn't as easy for them to share themselves with the other."

Firi'sry sensed something hidden in Se'rie's words, and coyly asked: "How serious is this?" Se'rie's feathers seemed to erupt from her face and neck, and she admitted: "Well, we trust each other as much as two people can, I'll just leave it at that."

Getting the message, Firi'sry blushed a bit, her dots glowing on her body slightly. Below her, her Ikran seemed to screech a bit in agreement, as it banked to head back towards the cliffs and village more. Changing the subject, Firi'sry asked: "What was it you said you did before Alex and you met?"

"Well, I worked in a market, as you could call it, but art was my passion. Painting, drawing, they helped me focus on something during the quarantine." Gazing out at the double sunset, and the mass of Polythemus and the Keletari moon hanging overhead, Se'rie said: "I'll have to paint that when I get a chance."

"SE'RIE! FIRI'SRY! WE HAVE TO GO, THE TSA'HIK HAS THE SITE READY!" Looking up, Firi'sry ducked slightly as Aru'san's massive form swooped in alongside her much smaller Ikran. Alex was astride the creature's back, sitting calmly on the hard synthetic scales and metal armour.

Turning her head, Aru'san's electronic voice emitted from her open mouth: "Your creature mount appears intimidated by my appearance. I do not intend to cause it distress." Firi'sry heard some emotion in the voice, but looked back as Se'rie said: "Hey Alex! Why don't you show your mother what I've been teaching you? And no flight packs, that's cheating!"

Sighing, Alex's helmeted head nodded, and he yelled to Firi'sry while telling Aru'san over connection to head back: "Firi'sry, I may have Aru'san now, but I don't need a creature or a flight pack to fly now! How's this for a rite of passage flight!"

Jumping off of Aru'san, Se'rie dove alongside a falling Alex, while Firi'sry watched on, worried for his safety, but unsure of what he was doing exactly. As he fell, Firi'sry saw the same black wings unfold, similar to a Leg'hrul's but slightly bigger, with a similar tail also, but no feathers. What she didn't see was an on board antigrav pack reduce his weight to roughly 10 kilograms.

Unfolding what he called his 'Dark Bird suit', Alex spread his wings, and with the aid of virtually unlimited power from his reactor, his arms pumped vigorously as he beat his dark wings, keeping up alongside a more graceful Se'rie. Beside him, Se'rie let out what seemed like a joyous caw, and began to dive, folding her wings in slightly as she sped up. Giving chase, Alex followed, him too streamlining his form.

Diving into the rock stacks jutting from the coastal reaches, Se'rie made Alex chase her, weaving in and out of the stacks, rapidly changing her course to try and throw him off. Undeterred, he never lost sight of her, his only shortfall being his limited smoothness of his winged flight.

Overhead, Firi'sry flew on her Ikran, seeing the female Leg'hrul and her adoptive son meander between the rock stacks. Looking on, Aru'san noted aloud: "It appears that Se'rie is testing Alex's flight capabilities compared to her own. This is commonplace in the ritual for readiness to become mates, that I think she is trying to lead Alex into outside his knowledge."

Reeling in surprise, Firi'sry Ikran screeched slightly through their link, while the female Na'vi steeled herself. Trying not to laugh, as she knew Alex was not in danger, she wondered if he knew, or if Aru'san was wrong.

Alex chased Se'rie still, beating the air vigorously. Though his limbs were mechanical, the motion behind them transferring to his torso caused his body to heat up, and by now his blood rate was higher than normal. It was now he reminded himself that he would likely be unable to do this with organic limbs. Although, he did still curse Se'rie and her race's enhanced heart endurance and faster heart rates.

Ahead of him, Se'rie suddenly seemed to halt in mid air, turning 180 degrees, her talons outstretched to face him. Not finding himself enough time to stop, Alex ploughed into Se'rie in mid air, throwing them both off, and sending them spiralling down to the more open section of coastal water.

"What was that for!" Screamed Se'rie. Alex looked back, Se'rie grasped firmly in his arms, and asked: "ME? You stopped in front of me too quickly for me to stop! What were you doing!"

Se'rie grasped his body with her wing talons and leg talons, the armoured covers clinking as they hit his metal legs. With a suggestive look on her face, Se'rie yelled: "I'm testing my mate!"

It took Alex a second, as he saw their joint downwards spiral, and the position he and Se'rie found themselves in. Seeing the water, the cold, uninviting water, coming to meet them heads first, Alex immediately reeled back, saying: "NOT NOW! YOU COULD GIVE ME A WARNING!"

Shoving Se'rie away, yelling: "PULL UP!", Alex opened his dark wings, while Se'rie flared her own wings as wide as they could go. Pulling up, Se'rie saw herself clear the water by a good 10 feet or so. Hearing a yell behind her, Se'rie saw a helmet and some dark wings disappear into the water with a big splash, though smaller for the lesser gravity and some fortunate braking.

"ALEX!" Screamed Se'rie. Fretting, Se'rie flew over to where the water was still white from the splash, frantically searching for a sign of his black armour. He armour would not allow air to escape, as it was sealed in. But she didn't even know if he could swim in it.

Little did Se'rie know that there were underwater currents between the stacks, where the water was channelled with the receding and incoming waves.

Surfacing at last, Alex saw that he had drifted 10 metres from the splash zone, and he saw a nearby rock stack that he had surfaced next to. Grasping the edge, he pulled himself up, the metal talons digging into the rock. Hearing a gasp and a flutter of feathers nearby, Alex knew that Se'rie had found him.

"Alex! Are you alright!" Se'rie asked, her wings talons gripping his arms with fierce hold. Nodding, Alex retracted his helmet visor and top, looking back at the water he had just taken a dip in, despite being bone dry himself: "I'm fine. Just a little shocked from the dip is all."

Settling herself more stably on the rocky outcropping by him, the rock stack overhanging them, Se'rie cupped his face, saying with relief: "I thought I lost you. All because I tried to get you to do that stupid fall without me saying."

Taking her wing talons in his metal hand, Alex reinforced: "Se'rie. I just plunged into a tidal current bay, but I'm fine. It wasn't stupid, you tried to get me to do something that I could never get the courage to do any time soon. I would never have been able to ask you to do that with me."

Looking into his red eyes, Se'rie asked sadly: "So you aren't willing to be more with me after all?" Seeing her eyes just begin to shine with tears, Alex pulled her into a hug, the sea spray mixing into his brown hair and her feathers, adding a strange smell on top of Se'rie's wildflower scent and Alex's sweaty metal smell.

"Se'rie. I said I would never be able to do it, because I wasn't sure if I was able to be everything that you deserve as a mate. You deserve so much. But, you chose me in this. And, I failed." Alex said, his tone regretful. Trying to lighten the mood, Se'rie said: "Hey, it's alright. You were doing great, until you realized what I was doing with you. I should have told you." She nuzzled his cheek with her beak at that comment.

Laughing a bit, Alex gave her a quick kiss on the beak, before standing up and saying: "We need to go. Eywa's waiting, and I don't want to be around here still 7 hours from now. I've already faced one of my two fears today, I don't need the second."

"You're afraid of a dreadnought?" Asked Se'rie. Alex looked at her, and said: "No, I'm afraid of Kal'sik. And I like to expect he's aboard any dreadnought. That pessimism helps me be relieved in most cases."

"Have a nice swim?" Asked Ja'hail jokingly, having just pieced his armour back on from sunbathing on the cliff top.

Se'rie and Alex had just landed on the cliff edge, the latter's armour still dripping wet a bit. As they landed, they saw Sha'krii headed over with Kirth, La'kias and Norstith in tow. Coming up to them, Sha'krii said: "You heard the news then? They're ready to do the procedure. They said they'll start it up, asking for help in making it usable for those two who can do it."

They all looked at Alex and Norstith, who shifted a bit on their feet. Kirth then said: "There is one small matter concerning our behaviour. I must insist that we refrain from violent confrontation under the watch they have us under."

Seeing their confused looks, La'kias told them: "The UIP are monitoring us, from a ground or orbital place we don't know, the local magnetic flux fields are too strong to pick out the signals. Of course we expected this, it is nothing to fear, just be careful."

"Typical, they can't help but spy on us when we're doing nothing wrong. Intruding pests some of the UIP are." Ja'hail commented in an annoyed tone.

Looking up, Alex saw a familiar Ikran and rider headed for a location about a half mile away, and noted: "Firi'sry's already headed to the site. We'll be there soon. I guess most of us will hang back with the shuttle and Aru'san, back in the clearing, until we're done?"

"That would be best." Said Kirth. In agreement, Sha'krii said conclusively: "We have to succeed. This could be our final victory, the last one of the war. Keep in contact with Jarothes and Krith, get any information on Bal'toro out of them to make your search easier."

**4 hours until scheduled Dreadnought arrival in Alpha Centuari system.**

"I suggest you go first. Eywa will react more positively first to a race her associated kind are familiar with." Suggested Norstith, as the 4 Na'vi warriors led them into a ravine like cave of sorts, the top open to sunlight, but enclosed like a massive cathedral like cavern. With him, Alex, Sha'krii and Se'rie walked, the former asking: "Getting nervous Norstith?"

"Interfacing mentally with a supposed planetwide deity level organism? No reason for me to be afraid." Said Norstith, the sarcasm apparent in his voice. Ignoring their banter, Sha'krii reminded them: "Remember what to do, connect in, find the information, and get out."

Se'rie asked now: "Any more information about Bal'toro we can use to help narrow down the search?"

Calling in, Jarothes spoke over the commlink: **"Bal'toro Inimara, killed on 14****th**** November 2900 in his apartment by nano-assassins injected into his drink. Pre-mortem occupation: signals analyser for the UIP central intelligence bureau. Birthplace, Kahtra'ya clan, Pandora, Alpha Centuari."**

Krith Lovisk was heard in the background: **"The UIP haven't detected our transmissions, but they're position of a nearby security scout is 2 miles away. They're watching the NKI members still out in the open."**

Cutting the commlink, Alex, Norstith, Se'rie and Sha'krii gazed about in wonder at the sight that beheld them.

The 4 warriors led them to another willow tree site, the tree itself still glowing a delicate purplish-pink colour, and the roots spreading outwards like the swirls of a whirlpool towards the walls of the circular chasm section. Around them, the walls glowed with some blue illuminated tree roots, the bioluminescent plants glowing on the walls of the darker cavern, despite the few sunbeams penetrating the overcast foliage ceiling roughly 30 metres above them.

In front of them, Tsa'hik Rae'arlan sat there, his queue already linked to the tree roots, eyes closed, his body rigid as he concentrated. Beside him, Firi'sry was sat and ready, watching the approaching aliens expectantly, her eyes flickering slightly more towards Alex, then to Norstith.

Reaching them, Tsa'hik turned to face them, his queue still linked, but himself now looking at them, though his voice seemed lighter now, more distant: _**"Eywa speaks. She is willing to offer help, but you must be able to pass through her eye to reach that which you seek within her."**_

Firi'sry then elaborated: _**"You will be judged as she would any of her people, but you must be able to communicate with her first. I trust you have a way?"**_

Looking at Norstith, or his neural interface panel on the back of his neck where his mind was originally transferred through, and then feeling the still usable neural implants in his spine, Alex said: _**"We'll find out. If we can't, we'll be fine."**_

"_**Sit, calm your mind and body before you begin." **_Tsa'hik Rae'arlan spoke once more, gesturing to the ground a few feet from him. Looking back at the other two, Norstith said: "Se'rie, Sha'krii, keep watch, if anything goes wrong and you can help, do it. If we get into trouble, pull us out."

"Okay Uncle." Responded Se'rie, almost breathless in anticipation. Sha'krii curtly nodded, and grasped Norstith's metal talons in gratitude: "You are doing the NKI a great service here today Norstith, as are you Alex. If this works, the war may well be over. Good luck."

"And with you on the throne, as long as Lo'rath accepts your right to rule, let's hope the war stays over." Said Alex, sitting down in a cross legged position with Norstith. Firi'sry asked: "How do you suggest you can interact with Eywa."

Norstith said: "We don't posses queues, but we know of how electrical signals are effectively what make up the 'information' transfer in her structure. Much like a giant brain. If we can uplink our neural networks to link with her own, we can enter her mind, not completely though. If we are pulled away, we will have our minds intact."

Abruptly, Alex grabbed Norstith by the neck, his metal fingers prodding at the panels concealed beneath the dark matter skin. He spoke as he engaged the open port function: "That's you ready. As long as a connection establishes there, you can sync up with Eywa. Now uh, for me."

Turning around, Firi'sry saw Alex pull off his torso armour entirely, revealing the extent of the damage his torso had taken. Worn on his sides like packs were two canisters of compressed dark matter, but it was the scars that drew her looks. His arms attached to the metal limbs just below the shoulder, so his grafted scars from bodies past were still there. His back and sides bore mild scarring, and as she glimpsed his front chest, she saw the slight bulge of the fusion reactor and blood pump in place of his heart.

Alex's metal fingers reached up to the top of his scarred spinal area, finding a section that he had been installed with for his first body mind transfer to his second body. Pressing the skin, a small electrical port opened, the skin folding away easily in two panels. The port was similar to Norstith's and served the same purpose.

Off to the side, Se'rie's feathers ruffled a bit from seeing Alex's bare torso. As much as the scars were tragic in some cases, she found he wore many of them well, with the obvious exception of the Varya implants. The only reason he kept them was out of a reminder of what was at stake should the NKI fail, and because it seemed to catalyse his dark matter abilities.

Seeing her lower ranking comrade's state, Shak'rii smirked a bit, saying: "Something is attractive to you?" Stifling a cough of embarrassment, and ignoring Sha'krii's entertained chuckle, Se'rie saw Tsa'hik Rae'arlan tell the two to lie on their backs.

Lying down, Alex muttered aloud: "Well, at least now I'll see what all the fuss was about when I was younger and in the clan."

Smiling, Firi'sry was adamant that Alex would finally experience something he had missed out on from the Omaticaya days of his youth: "Eywa is beautiful, you will see her."

"Remember that really I only want to see one person within her though." Alex said.

Tsa'hik Rae'arlan spoke one final time: "If you link up, you will be a part of Eywa. Your mind, your soul, will help you perceive the All mother's world as something familiar, but you can perceive it as each other would. But, there is another thing. While anyone explores Eywa's realm, she and her realm shall explore your mind, to add to herself and her realm. These explorations will appear at the front of your mind, but in your quest, it is best to pay them little serious heed."

"Also, you must not stray too far. Like the distance an Ikran flies, your mind can only travel so far. Eywa is the planet, and you can only explore so much from here. Good luck,"

"Ah, Ah, Ah. Something's crawling up my back." Alex spoke, trying to remain calm. Shifting his gaze slightly, Norstith saw some glowing vines, hair like, snaking their way from the ground, over Alex's back. Engaging his touch sensors, Norstith knew then that he was getting the exact same treatment. Firi'sry linked up to Eywa, saying to them: "The All mother is connecting with you. Remain calm."

Feeling the tickling, Alex felt the vines beginning to concentrate at his neck more and more, into a much more solid form. Alongside and beneath him, the vines punctured into a single mass, and gradually snaked their way into both Alex's and Norstith's open neural interface ports. Finally, with the connection of the conductive vines and the ports, it began.

Shaking briefly, Alex gasped as the vines linked up to his neck port, feeling his vision flashing as he saw the tree flashing slightly also. Beside him, Norstith was calmer, though equally disturbed.

Off to the side, Sha'krii laid a reassuring hand on Se'rie's shoulder, squeezing firmly as both Alex and Norstith were linked in. Alex's mild spasm caused Se'rie to lean forwards in worry, but the moments later with Sha'krii's firm grasp told the story.

Turning to one of the warriors, Se'rie asked: "Please. If you can tell us if they are in, can you? Please."

Gauging the worry on the Leg'hrul's face, the closest warrior knelt down, connecting his queue to the ground roots for 10 seconds, closing his eyes. Finally, standing up, the warrior said in Na'vi, translated by Se'rie's and Sha'krii's autotranslators: **"Yes. They are in there, I sensed the Omaticaya visitor, the Tsa'hik, and two new presences, not Na'vi."**

Sighing, Sha'krii said more to herself: "Let fate be kind, let them find the information."

_Gazing around, Firi'sry saw Tsa'hik Rae'arlan nodding in confirmation. He saw them too._

_They were stood in a place much like the cavern they linked to the tree in, though here, the bioluminescent light from the plants was less harsh, warmer, and the walls were made of smooth rock, like rocks smoothed by the sea. The ceiling was not covered by plant life, and a light, warm and inviting, its source not seen in the sky, bathed the willow tree in daylight._

_Standing by the willow tree, its bioluminescent colours somewhat diminished among the realm's brighter colours, stood two shapes. One was human, his body now completely healed, no scars, no metal limbs, but his form was covered in what appeared to be an over garb, flowing from his shoulders down to his knees, with a black and red lined colour to it._

_Beside him, but looking around equally as amazed and unnerved was a Leg'hrul, this one also completely healed, no longer bound by a metal body as a long term temporary solution. His feathers were not a dull grey and dark azure, but now shone with more radiance, more preened and neat than they ever had been. His bushy neck feathers and head crest rose proudly._

_Approaching them, Firi'sry reached out with her mind to them, her voice like an echo on the wind now: "Alex. Norstith. You are in."_

_Turning to face them, Alex was wearing a look of triumph and fear, and in his fear, Firi'sry reached out into his mind, her emotions signalling safety as long as she was by their side. As she delved into his upper mind, her surroundings changed slightly, her mind now more perceiving the realm of Eywa as her son did to make it familiar._

_Around her, the chasm hall transformed into a more angled cliff area, the walls smoothed by some force, and cliffs and walls rising like towers of a city over them. Parts of the walls and towers glowed in strips, like circuits, and soon became visible as a sort of massive hall, like a military base, or at least the data library of one. Without her knowledge, it was a mixture of the Liberator's halls and the Solaris base facilities._

_As she reached into Norstith's mind, Firi'sry's surroundings altered once more, this time making the chasm appear as a snowy city street, which beyond Firi'sry's knowledge was a mix of the Leg'hrul capital city on Vae'rakin, and the Peragoth colony streets._

_Pulling out, Firi'sry's voice whispered once again, echoing with Tsa'hik Rae'arlan's: "Eywa has allowed you to pass through."_

**Finally, chapter 14 done.**

**OK guys, I really could use some reviews for this story, seriously. I need feedback if anyone has any suggestions for this story, or any issues.**

**In any event, please review or avidly read my stories if they interest you.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 15: Eywa's secrets, double connection.**

**25th September 2901**

**Alpha Centuari, Pandora, Kahtra'ya clan.**

**3 hours until scheduled Dreadnought arrival in Alpha Centuari system.**

_Gazing around, Alex spoke, his mind echoing like a voice and his mouth moving to help perceive it: "I was expecting something, well, not like this."_

"_Eywa helps you perceive her world as something familiar to you. It will help you interact with the All Mother." Spoke Tsa'hik Rae'arlan, his silhouette materializing in front of Alex. Beside him, Firi'sry materialized, but to Alex's surprise, he noted aloud:_

"_You shorter here, that or I'm taller." Feeling the amused vibes from Firi'sry, Alex looked to see Norstith beside him, noting the similar equal height, and his non metal state. Looking down, Alex thought for a moment about his appearance, asking: "Why don't I look like myself entirely."_

_Just as he finished, Alex saw his appearance had suddenly changed to match his real world visage. Instead of a black and red lined tribal garb, he was back in his metal limbs, scarred flesh and shorts. His mind working, Norstith noted: "One's thoughts give way to your self perceived appearance in this place. Interesting."_

"_We are safe, Eywa has allowed you passage through her, but now the task of finding the answers you seek falls to us. We must venture deeper into Eywa's realm in this area. There we will find the souls of the dead Kahtra'ya." Said Rae'arlan._

"_Bal'toro must be there, with the information we need." Said Norstith._

_Looking on, Firi'sry saw a path beginning to emerge, like a winding trail into a deeper rainforest, shrouded in a tantalizingly beautiful mist. Very faint shadows could be seen moving within the rainforest, their movements sticking out from the gently swaying trees and ferns, their whispers carrying very gently and faintly over the gentle breeze seeming to come from the rainforest itself._

"_Eywa's souls beckon to us. We will find the most recently joined souls first. Bal'toro Inimara will be deeper, and we must navigate into Eywa to reach his plain of existence within her. I shall lead us in."_

"_Eywa has presented herself to us in a way to help us know how much farther we have to go." Firi'sry said, herself seeing a rainforest like Rae'arlan did. Following the two Na'vi images, Alex saw himself heading down a seemingly endless hall of a data library, with echoing voices coming from down its endless data bank terminals. Norstith saw the shadows of people emerging as he travelled down with Alex and the two Na'vi, the steel archway architecture of the Leg'hrul cityscape coming more and more alive and intricate with each step towards the depths of Eywa's graveyard realm._

_Walking through, Norstith noted how the shadow figures seemed to pay them heed for only a brief moment, before resuming their gatherings and whispers among themselves. But he could feel them probing his mind out of curiosity, he saw random memories, his dreams and ambitions, coming to his mind's forefront. To his surprise, he saw some begin to emerge in front of them as they travelled further along the seemingly endless abyss of souls._

_In front of him, a particularly strong memory emerged, over 8 years ago, on the Kro'nogri colony of Raha'lar. It was roughly 2 years before the war started, and his other sister was taken prisoner. He was visiting his other sister and her niece, when Kro'nogri anarchists struck, hoping to destroy an Alliance jamming facility concealed within a nearby warehouse by the marketplace._

"_A hazy, younger Norstith turned abruptly, as an explosion sounded nearby, his eyes wide with panic. Flying quickly, he yelled hoarsely for his sister over the screams of the market goers, and the sirens of approaching emergency services. A gasp, and he landed roughly beside a rubble pile, crumpling at the knees, as he found his sister half buried in a rubble pile, half of her face peppered debris, and her head had been cracked, blood seeping out, her lifeless husk a mask of shock forever._

_Before Norstith could let loose his tears, he heard a groaning, and muffled crying, and he swiftly turned to see a growing trail of red blood seeping from around a corner of a rubble pile. The voice was young, male. Quickly coming around the rubble pile, Norstith nearly screamed in horror as he saw his nephew peppered with debris, a few large pieces embedded into his torso. With each breath his nephew took, each breath more ragged than the last, more blood seeped from his wounds._

_Rushing forwards, Norstith whispered reassuring words, telling his nephew it would be alright, and screamed incessantly for the emergency services. Below him, a voice croaked, blood seeping from the beak as it did the young boy's torso and wings: "Uncle, N-Nor-Norst-st"_

_The boy could not even finish Norstith's name before he lost consciousness, the tears beginning to stop seeping out, succumbing to the pain._

_The emergency rescue teams found Norstith there, having moved with his nephew's body to place him beside his dead mother. It would be an hour before Norstith could rise from his spot, bent over in pain as he wept before his sister and nephew's corpses."_

""_The boy's father died in an accident when he was 2, and so I acted as his father figure until he died. When I was teaching you, the same connection I felt to my nephew came back, and for that I see you as a sort of son now. I realize that you already have a father, but realize that I care about you, more than I have about anyone since the boy died."_

_Alex didn't know how to respond, and so said: "I'm honoured that you think that way master. To be truthful I always saw that my father favoured my sister, since she was his flesh and blood, and of the same race. I know he may love me, but our bond is not as strong as other father-son relationships. Most people go knowing only one father figure in their lives. I'm lucky enough to have had two, and with you, I may be getting a third. But for now, I'll see you when you need me."_

_All three of them had seen the memory, and Alex saw exactly the pain Norstith felt in losing one sibling. He now understood why Norstith would go to the lengths he did to ensure the safety of his other family. The pain would have been unbearable._

_Firi'sry felt the surfaced sadness at his relived memory, and she had seen a touching relationship between her son and Norstith while he was training. Despite Alex being misled, there was a paternal sort of care for her son that Norstith felt._

_Shaking off his sadness, Norstith resolved: "We must push on. You saw it, so let that be the end of it. We have to still find Bal'toro."_

"_Norstith. I, I am truly sorry. I see now what level of pain you wished to avoid to keep your family safe, and work for the Alliance as you did." Firi'sry said, genuine sadness in her voice. She then asked: "And did you truly care for Alex as you would a child of yours?"_

"_He was in need of guidance, particularly after I brought him back to life. And if I may be allowed a spell of dark humour, Alex treated me as he did your mate and his step father."_

"_How so?"_

"_He killed me, effectively." Norstith said. At that moment, a brief flash of memory was shared with Firi'sry, as the last moments between Alex and Norstith aboard the Emancipator were shared, and of the revelations that were uncovered in that fight. When Alex remembered the Emancipator events, his side of the story was added, revealing the initial suicidal bravery he had to stop the KI fleet, before he heard that his remnant fleet could get him off the ship in a suicidal manner._

_Firi'sry asked Alex: "You were willing to die to stop the KI?"_

"_Yes. But I thought there was no other way at first, so I fought as hard as I could. Any chance of survival I have I'll take. The best way to fight a war is to live to fight another day, and hope that day be the last one of war."_

_Rae'arlan asked then: "But that seems cowardly, to not do the brave acts that are needed in war."_

_Norstith intervened: "There is a reason why there is much more cowardice than bravery in the galaxy. Bravery and stupidity go hand in hand often, while the cowards think more carefully about their actions." With that, the debate ended, especially as Rae'arlan saw how far they had come._

_Walking on, they found themselves at a particular section of the abyssal rainforest, or city/library as Norstith and Alex respectively saw it. Rae'arlan said: "These souls became part of the all mother roughly half a year ago. We must go further in."_

_Walking in, Alex felt something behind him, and looked to the side, seeing a similar abyssal pathway stretching on forever. He asked aloud: "From any perspective, what does that pathway represent?"_

_Rae'arlan saw it, and said: "That is another, close by site of Ewya. The closest one after the site we are using is slightly smaller, but it harder to reach, as the volcanic terrain makes it fertile, but hazardous to approach."_

_Walking down the abyssal corridor, Alex saw a brief vision of a single figure in the mist, watching him, and he could tell it was another Na'vi. And yet, there seemed to be another figure stood right next to them, but was much more faint than normal._

_Norstith saw it also, and merely said: "A soul that has taken an interest in us perhaps? We have to keep moving."_

_Not turning back, they followed on, unaware that the single Na'vi shadow and semi formed shadow figure followed them, silently, through the abyssal halls and rainforests, just out of visible sight._

_Now Alex felt a tingling, and he saw images springing to his mind. Groaning a bit, he muttered aloud: "Now its happening to me." Indeed, as the shapes began to materialize in front of him from his deeper memories, Alex was surprised as to what was forming. The image was in a very dark place, with a reddish glow penetrating the inky blackness, highlighting a terrified female Predator's face in the dark place._

"_Mykris." Breathed Alex. Norstith stopped, realizing he would be witness to an account of exactly how Alex exacted his revenge. This was not a painful memory, but it did hold conflicting satisfaction and guilt in it. Firi'sry realized what she was about to see, and as much as she did not like to see it, she knew that to understand her son's past behaviour and mental state, she had to._

"_As the room lit up with blood red light, Quirinth saw out of the corner of her eyes the pool of red and green blood below her, and the bodies of her comrades lying forever upon the concrete._

_The figure had Quirinth's chin held between a black gloved index finger and thumb, and as Quirinth stared up in horror, she heard a demonic whisper come from this thing._

"_Now my prey, I shall install revenge for what you did to me in a past life." As he whispered this, Quirinth's eyes widened, and she asked in a shaky voice: "W-What? I-I don't know y-you."_

_The figure seemed to glare at her, and then release her chin, and growled in the same horrible voice: "You once did, before you left me to die." The helmet then seemed to melt away, as it smoothly retracted to reveal the face beneath it._

_There, illuminated in the crimson markings adorning his armour, was a vicious scar on the left cheek, and the red eyes still bore the same intense rage that they had shot her when she had left him. Quirinth was lost for words, and then she snapped:_

"_No, it can't be. You supposed to be dead!"_

"_I was dead, until I was brought back.""_

_The looks of horror at the memory were shared between Firi'sry and Rae'arlan, and Norstith was surprised at how heartless Alex was in this memory. Alex looked away, already remembering all too well what happened. But then he saw something else, the faint, shadow of a Na'vi, closer now, and its faint companion._

_But something was off. The Na'vi was more solid than a soul, and its companion was somehow less solid than the souls here. And they both gazed through the mists, in Alex's view staring at the memory past him down the holo-library halls._

"_So I shall leave you trapped at the brink of death, barely alive, so all you can do is remember what you did to deserve this."_

_The mask flipped back into place, and Alex placed a hand to Quirinth's face. Immediately, she began to scream, as a searing pain rushed through her body, spasming her limbs and body within their invisible bindings. Alex poured more electric current into his glove's conductors, until eventually releasing the female predator from his grasp._

_Exhausted from the pain, and traumatized from the sight of the bodies around her, Quirnth's began to see blackness creep into her vision. Her last sight was the Dark Hunter's fist smashing into the side of her face."_

_The memory faded, and Firi'sry detracted her horrified expression at what she saw happen in her own son's memories by his hand in his spate of hatred and insanity driven bloodshed._

_She looked to Norstith, as if for an explanation, but found him looking in Alex's direction with a hard but incredulous expression. Gathering herself, she looked at her son, but found him looking away from her._

"_Alex. I, I cannot say I like what you did. But, I can feel that you have doubts, and wanted revenge at the time." No response, and Firi'sry approached Alex, her figure wheeling to stand in front of him. Before she could say anymore, she saw Alex wearing the same hard look as Norstith, which Rae'alran now wore as he gazed into the distant fog in the abyss of the mind._

_Alex's mental voice whispered: "That memory was buried in the deepest recesses of my mind. My lack of guilt or satisfaction made it unimportant for me to personally remember. I can feel a connection, a strange, disconnected form, probing my mind, not a part of Eywa. And I think we can see who it is, ahead of us."_

_Seeing Alex's gaze, Firi'sry turned, and saw them. The more solid shadow, and the somehow too fait shadow beside it, looking at them, before they disappeared into the fog, reacting to the group attention._

_Progressing further in, Norstith asked Rae'arlan: "Why have those two forms been following us? Souls do not seem to concern themselves actively in this realm."_

"_Those are not local souls. They are not deceased with the others here. They are in Eywa as all of us are." Tsa'hik Rae'arlan said. Firi'sry asked: "Another two linked up? But why follow us?"_

"_I do not know. But I believe Alex and Norstith saw a hint as to where they are linking from as they perceived Eywa." Looking at her son and the Leg'hrul, Firi'sry beckoned them mentally to speak. Norstith spoke: "The second path far back, leading to that secondary Eywa site in the volcanic regions a few miles away. That's the only place as far as I am aware of from probing with my mind and Rae'arlan's statements."_

"_They are still following. I can sense them." Firi'sry said. Rae'arlan then noted: "We are also at our plain of Eywa. Here is where Bal'toro will be with how long ago he was buried."_

_Looking around, it seemed to appear like any other area to each of them, the same old rainforest to Firi'sry and Rae'arlan, though cliffs in his case, a wintery Leg'hrul city for Norstith and a darkened data library for Alex. But here, they knew subconsciously that their goal was here, and as they thought together, the surroundings gradually became clearer, and soon, individual echoes of voices from roughly a year past become clearer._

"_How do we now locate Bal'toro?" Asked Norstith. Rae'arlan spoke in response: "Eywa's real is governed by thought and emotion. You must think of traits, memories or confirmed events concerning that who you seek, a simple name does not suffice. You must feel for who you are looking for, concentrate on that which defines that person to you in every discernable way, let them perhaps know of their past life to inspire them to come out."_

_Thinking for a moment, Rae'arlan said: "Bal'toro Ini'mara, we call for you lost brother. Your past beckons for your service once again to bring justice to the wicked and deceitful."_

"_Krith Lovisk is with us, she and Jarothes Hutreck are on our ship. He was framed, and he also suggested coming to find you. You hold the final pieces of information we need to end this war." Spoke Alex, his voice harsher, less radiant and echoing across the abyssal surroundings._

_Nothing happened, and Norstith spoke: "Well? Is he here or not?"_

"_My presence will be when I deem it so, bird." A haughty voice called, very faint and echoing. The two aliens whipped around their projected surroundings, Norstith asking: "Show yourself!"_

"_Grouchy, aren't you? So, you have come to seek my head's contents. Ha, Ha, Ha." A faint image appeared before them, as a Na'vi head materialized in front of them, and as he twisted in mid air like a spinning piece of debris in space wheeling over, the rest of his body materialized. Unlike tribal garments, the reason they called him here was to do with his old job, and thus, what was presumably Bal'oro Ini'mara's soul was donned in standard UIP intelligence formal dress, on this occasion only._

"_Are you Bal'toro Inimara?" Asked Norstith. Laughing amusedly, the Na'vi male floated around them, seeming to examine a 360 degree view of them all, and said: "I am, and I am not."_

"_We do not have time for games. Were you Bal'toro Inimara before you became part of Eywa?" Tsa'hik Rae'arlan spoke. Bal'toro recognized his Tsa'hik, and stood upright, bowing slightly, saying: "Tsa'hik Rae'arlan. This is a surprise, and yes to your question."_

_Bal'toro turned to Firi'sry, silently probing her mind, saying: "Omaticaya clan. I suppose you received Eywa's call? She seemed to take an interest in what I had in memory when I was brought in. I guess she sought to bring you in also."_

_Bal'toro frowned a bit, and looked between Alex and Firi'sry, saying in a bemused remark: "Strange, I sense a connection, a mother and son, not in blood, but bond, though your son seems to feel it less, or is reluctant to. And, I sense that another of your children, this one of blood, is also nearby."_

"_Could you repeat that last part?" Asked Alex. Bal'toro seemed to flicker, and he said: "Your mother's blood child is nearby." Alex turned to Firi'sry, asking: "Did you know about this?"_

"_No, I had no idea! What is Sru'sky doing here?"_

"_I think I have a clue as to where she is at least. She does not yet know we have detected her, and she is just within view." Rae''arlan said. Turning slowly, Firi'sry wished to confirm it, but Norstith snapped: "No! Do not let her know we have detected her. We must find out why she is here. If we go for her, she will flee."_

_Quickly turning back, Firi'sry asked Bal'toro: "Where is she connected from?"_

"_The Blazing Cliffs."_

_Looking at Rae'arlan, the three all mirrored a look of demand for answers, to which the Tsa'hik replied: "The Blazing Cliffs is a difficult site, its willow tree is on an island, surrounded by volcanic ashfall and lava streams that give it fertility. The only way on or off is by thin vine bridges."_

"_Or by shuttle airdrop." Suggested Alex. He looked to Bal'toro, asking: "We came to ask about the information you agreed to help Krith Lovisk and Jarothes Hutreck with, about the 'individuals' in the UIP intelligence bureau. Do you have it?"_

"_As fresh as the day I found it." Bal'toro replied proudly. Happy, Alex turned to Norstith, saying: "Question him for now. I must deal with something else."_

_Turning to Rae'arlan, Alex asked: "How do I disconnect?"_

"_Disconnect? Why?"_

"_I need to have our eavesdroppers pulled out with help. We can't risk them hearing what we're gathering. We are already in competition with the UIP for this, and they might risk finding out." Alex said._

"_They have as much as we have now. If they get it, it might be the final scout in his high post influencing the UIP with his gathered wealth from war profiteering and such." Norstith explained._

_Seeing their need, Rae'arlan said: "How long will you be gone?"_

"_I'm only want to get out to make a call. I'll be back in soon afterwards, and come and find you. I hope." Alex said. Rae'arlan understood, and he said: "Focus your mind on the image of you in the real world, and reach up to where your connection is there, make a move as if to sever the connection. Concentrate on that image, on the will to separate from Eywa, and you will be out."_

_Alex reached up to his neck, and saw Norstith smirk in a confident gesture of good luck, but he saw Firi'sry's look of worry. He said: "I'll make sure they aren't harmed. Just taken out of here."_

_Cupping his hand on his neck, Alex concentrated, as is demanding his freedom. Then he felt it, saw the world around him flash in a light streaked tunnel, until a bright light engulfed him, then blackness._

The sound of the sea a half mile away alerted Alex to his return to reality.

Snapping his eyes open, he felt the hair like vines fall away from his body and neck, and with a slight stumble as his mind seemed to 'recalibrate', he rose to his two feet.

Walking briskly, he saw that Norstith was indeed still connected, as were Firi'sry and Rae'arlan. He approached the guards by Se'rie and Sha'krii, raising a hand in a peaceful gesture of non aggression, which seemed to appease them.

Coming forwards a bit, Se'rie pulled Alex into a hug quickly, her wings engulfing his body, as she worriedly asked: "What happened? Are you okay?"

"It's alright Se'rie, we're fine, and Norstith is still in because I needed him to be. There is something else, we have an eavesdropper."

"Someone else is looking for Bal'toro? How could they have found out?" Asked Sha'krii.

"I don't know, and we're not sure if it is Bal'toro. But we can't let them find out, especially as we have the UIP searching for it also. So I'm calling some others to disconnect them, preferable in as least violence as possible, then I'm heading back in."

Taking out his commlink, Alex chose the frequency, and made the call.

Back over at the Kahtra'ya clan, the members waiting for the memory mining to be complete all got calls on their commlinks:

"**Hunter here. Search compromised, bugging detected, repeat, bugging detected in system. We need a disconnection of buggers at coordinates 094-083-345. Note environmental hazards. Requested members: Xale, Azula, Aru'san. Rest of you, maintain radio silence and keep to posts."**

Inside the actual clan, Ja'hail rolled his eyes as he continued basking, muttering: "Damn UIP can't keep their snouts out of our business."

Further away, Morthas shrugged, and remained under his hut awning cover he had, his mouth open as he sheltered in the shade to vent heat. He blamed the suits of the Leg'hrul, where because the wings needed to be exposed except in the harshest of circumstances, they were now exposed to heat, which he could only vent through his beak. Still, it was not his problem.

La'kias was under another hut, examining what appeared to be tribal jewellery and talisman necklaces. Having received the message, he asked Kirth nearby in a shaded corner: "What reason would the UIP have for spying on us?"

"The same reason our human counterparts were ambushed on Earth for the second data batch. I don't know how, but they managed to get this far without us knowing. We were careful with our data transmissions, and no one besides us and the ship crew know."

"Perhaps an informant in our crew?" La'kias guessed.

"No, all transmissions have been checked. It wasn't any of us. How this enemy within the UIP eludes and confounds us is most irritating, yet somehow enticing." Kirth said, slightly to himself as well as to La'kias.

"Only you would enjoy a setback with so few hours until our time to leave comes. Remember we now only have 2 hours until the dreadnought enters the system." La'kias said. Kirth replied: "I am fully aware, but I am not concerned, yet."

La'kias sighed, and asked himself mentally as to why he admired this man who he worked alongside and for, when he seemed to vex him on so many occasions.

Lexa spoke as Azula and Xale clambered onto Aru'san, entering her concealed back cockpit: "Don't hurt them, remember they might be here to watch us, and we need to keep up good relations."

"Relax sis, we're just going to get them out of there, and keep them out until Norstith and Alex are done. We'll do no more than get them to chase us." Xale said, his tone uncaring and joking.

Azula gave Xale a reprimanding look, saying to him: "Do not kill or maim, do nothing more than antagonize and defend."

Climbing into Aru'san as the draconic AI took off with a few wingbeats and quiet fusion thruster pulses, Xale asked his girlfriend and combat partner: "Alright, then how will you fight if your skill set usually always maims at least?"

"I have other ways to get them to focus on me." Azula said, her fingers flexing a bit, already strategizing a possible combat scenario against at least a single Na'vi.

"**Aru'san in. On route to disconnection mission, Xale and Azula inbound with me."** Alex's commlink sounded off the call. Replying a quick confirmation, Alex killed the channel, turning to quickly face Se'rie and Sha'krii:

"Keep a channel to them open. As usual, something really bad happens, get me and Norstith out. I'm going back in, wish me luck!"

Approaching the willow tree briskly, Alex lay down on the ground, relaxing as best he could, already feeling the hair like vines growing onto him within a minute of lying down.

Linking up, he felt the repeated mental jolt as he was pulled from reality, into the biological mental network.

_Alex looked around, he was in the same place. He saw Norstith with Bal'toro, Rae'arlan and Firi'sry, looking around, and he wandered out to them, calling again, his voice echoing._

_Turning to see him, Norstith's voice carried furthest: "Did it work?" Turning, they all saw a very faint silhouette, with a much fainter form beside it. They waited, but it showed no sign of moving, even as it approached them all slowly._

A dozen miles away, Aru'san saw the target, a small basin, atop a rocky plateau island in what seemed like a river delta of lava flows and steam. Indeed, the vine bridges linking the island to the mainland were narrow, suspended between the island and the canyon edges around it. Further 'upstream', the towering volcanoes and magma vents spewed forth more runny, orange lava to flow.

The Blazing Cliffs were named for the steep rocky cliffs, formed by layers of lava, previously thick lava, forming new land at the sea, the rocks blackened and the lava running in rivulets and small lava falls down the roughly 50 degree slope, giving it the appearance of having fiery, orange veins on its surface.

Swooping down, Aru'san saw the immediate target, ignoring any other lifeforms she detected elsewhere. Banking, the draconic AI descended, a piercing, howling electronic roar sounding, an intimidation weapon, as she opened her back cockpit briefly.

As Aru'san passed overhead, she saw the Na'vi, connected to the willow tree, and a human like figure connected to her forehead by his hand. A Vulcan. And off to the side, a dark skinned human, a Romulan, a female Predator and 2 more humans.

Firing a molten metal stream at high velocity, Aru'san incinerated the ground in front of the non linked members, forcing them backwards from the molten metal landing on the ground between them and Sru'sky.

As Aru'san passed overhead, Xale had leapt from Aru'san, Azula in his arms in a grip, as he descended rapidly, turbofan pack roaring as he slowed his descent and aimed for the two connected members.

In seconds, Xale released Azula, letting her fly to the ground on a deceleration blue flame jet, while he cut power, and flew in for a precision strike. Sru'sky and the Vulcan had no idea they were there yet.

As soon as Azula landed, she ran to Sru'sky, still connected and unaware, and Xale was on top of the Vulcan. Like a pile driver, Xale tackled the Vulcan while he was still slightly aloft, the force of the impact winding the resilient human sized Vulcan, and in a tangle of limbs and a thunderous crash, they went rolling onto the ground.

As soon as the Vulcan had been torn away, Sru'sky had lost her focus, and as she momentarily slipped back into reality, she saw Azula there, a blue fire ball in her hands, aiming it at her face:

"Off the ground now!" The firebender seemed to screech. Still stunned, Sru'sky saw Azula fire a blast at her knees, the blue fire just missing. Behind her, the draconic AI continually held back her backup.

"Move!" Azula yelled again. Finally, Sru'sky stood up slowly, keeping low to not intimidate with greater height, and her queue disconnected.

_A few minutes, and finally they saw the two shady images disappear, and Firi'sry could have sworn she saw a brief spasm of alarm as both figure disappeared._

_Meanwhile, Norstith relayed what Bal'toro told them so far, about additional weapons, medicinal and manufacturing stocks owned by someone for up to 15 years, and about dealings with some individuals, including Kal'sik for the Varya operation._

"_This man, this Predator wanted to give Kal'sik information, in exchange, he would spare the Predator dominated worlds and the Grey dominated worlds."_

"_While the other scout was alive still, he would keep his end of the bargain for his race's safety." Norstith assumed. Firi'sry was surprised, these two scouts sold out the other races to save their own._

_Alex asked: "What about a name of the Predator?"_

_Bal'toro kept to himself a bit, and said: "He is very powerful, and by what you've told me, you've already met him. You said his name was Oro'naze before. I found a small record of his name change over a decade ago. He removed some letters of his name, in your language, he removed an O and an E, and rearranged them."_

"_His new name, is Zoran." Bal'toro said._

_Silence reigned in Eywa's realm._

**Chapter 15 up, and I finally got my planned plot twist done.**

**Please review and comment if you could, I could really use some feedback.**

**About Eywa portrayal, I figured as high and mighty as she would be, she would let the other souls she had do most of the talking, and be a silent observer herself, after all she is a 'collective intelligence'.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 16: The Betrayer, the decieved.**

**25th September 2901**

**Alpha Centuari, Pandora, Kahtra'ya clan.**

**1.5 hours until scheduled Dreadnought arrival in Alpha Centuari system.**

_Even in the mysterious realm of the all mother, with all the gathered wisdom available to access, nothing could have forewarned them of this fact._

_As Bal'toro reported, it was Zoran, the UIP Intelligence Chief, instigator of the Varya KI infiltration, and UIP discrete organizer of the NKI, was in fact Oro'naze, the scout. His dealings included war profiteering from shares in munitions, industry, shipbuilding and even medicine, from former Alliance assets sold off before the war's start, and current UIP assets._

_Worse still, he was collaborating with the Alliance, playing both sides. It was he who organized slipping Shockwave the brainwashing virus to help Kal'sik's operations at Varya with space bridge tech._

_And it was him who was relaying information to the Alliance, and Kal'sik, about planetary defences in enough amounts to not be suspicious._

_As Bal'toro watched, he felt Firi'sry and Rae'arlan probing the minds of Alex and Norstith, for any information on Zoran. And he felt it also, a sense of collective betrayal, revelation, shock, but one dominant emotion was rising in each of the NKI aliens._

_Norstith's mind echoed the determined feeling he harboured, he knew now that Zoran would not be easy to take down. Yet he realized that with Zoran's power and resources, it all fit together with his dealings and the power needed to achieve them. His human associate and former apprentice realized this too, but his anger at Zoran playing them like instruments was growing quickly._

_In Alex's mind, he felt a growing rage, and in his mind he saw himself back on Ki'ristalis, shaking hands with Zoran, watching his mandibles flare in a cheeky sort of smile as they convened their dealings that only they knew about concerning the KI. As his rage grew, Alex restrained and restrained, until he could not hold it any more._

"_That slimy bastard. He played us, this whole war is his fault? He sent Lanver and others after us to get the information to cover his tracks."_

_Feeling the mental time bomb growing, Norstith began to recede back, as did Bal'toro. Rae'arlan and Firi'sry were not prepared for the onslaught of this human going mentally beserk._

Outside, Se'rie and Sha'krii gasped a bit as they saw the purple glowing willow tree flash violently for a few moments, and their guards did also. Afterwards, it dimmed a bit before returning to its normal brightness.

"What happened there?" Asked Sha'krii to a nearby guard. The guard merely replied: "_**I do not know. Such a display usually means very powerful exchanges between Eywa and those linked to her."**_

_Calming himself as best he could, Alex looked around, still seething, but he remembered where he was again, and saw the looks that the others gave him._

_Norstith seemed to have been expecting it, and gave little heed to the cooling human. Rae'arlan, Bal'toro and Firi'sry however, were stunned at the violent, rage filled outburst that so suddenly left the human's mind._

"_Great Mother! What was that?" Bal'toro remarked. Alex finally cooled off enough to speak in a more civilized manner, and said: "I'm sorry for that. It's just, well, a lot to take in."_

"_Such rage cannot be healthy." Rae'arlan commented. Alex gave him a fixated stare, and commented: "My rage was what saved my life many times. You'd be surprised how it can numb your feelings and let you do what must be done."_

_Firi'sry asked, still stunned: "That rage cannot possibly be from Zoran's acts alone. How did it begin to grow in your mind." As soon as she asked the question, the memory flashed in Alex's mind before he could suppress it, all the way back from Iegris, over 2 and a half years ago:_

_**A cry of agonizing pain echoed through the sounds of the crumbling building.**_

_**Looking at his right shoulder, the unburnt one, Alex saw that Quirinth had stabbed her blade straight through his shoulder, the plasma coating slowly burning away at the flesh surrounding it. If he moved, he felt agonizing pain, but if he was stationary, he felt agonizing pain.**_

_**Quirinth had trapped him on the platform, pinned him to the destruction he had caused. He looked over with his bloodshot eyes, as Quirinth quickly climbed aboard Trion's fighter frame. She and Sru'sky looked at him with immense hatred and sadness respectively. As he lay there, destined for a brutal and undeserved death, he bellowed at the craft as it took off: "YOU MONSTERS!"**_

_**Feeling the building beginning to accelerate its fall, Alex felt the burning in his right shoulder increase. He saw the blade working its way up to the top of his shoulder. He gained a glimmer of hope, as he may be able to escape when the blade fully burnt through his shoulder, freeing him. Bearing the pain, he decided to speed things up. H grabbed the platform below him, and quickly dragged his body down the increasing slope. With a sound of burning flesh, and a scream that made Alex's lungs ache, he was free.**_

_The memory of when Alex finally snapped revealed the pain Alex felt at the time, and him wishing he had never been a part of their family so that he might not feel the pain. But also a lust for revenge, and the insurmountable rage that allowed him to make his desperate bid for freedom._

_In the meantime, Alex had joined questioning Norstith and Bal'toro: "How can we get Zoran exposed?" He asked. Frowning a bit, Bal'toro said: "The courts won't take evidence from a deceased member as legitimate evidence. But as you Norstith, have at the moment a fully synthetic mind setup, you could download images that I took with me here from my brain and neural implants, of specific data files. Plus, you know of his dealings, and the only piece of evidence you can't get your hands on is his name change, the thing that links him to it all. He will have to reveal it, if you wish to gather enough evidence to definitely reveal him. My data alone might not be enough, though I stress, might."_

"_Perhaps we could trick him into revealing it on recording? An old trick, but usable." Norstith suggested. Bal'toro replied: "You know what you need to do, and I'm afraid I cannot offer any more than what I am about to transfer. Norstith, I must ask you to focus on me for the next few minutes. Alex, you are not required for this."_

"_Alright. If that's the case I might as well, wait." As Alex trailed off, he sensed someone probing his mind, feeling old memories coming back to him. Whipping around, he saw Firi'sry quickly stop probing his mind. Arching an eyebrow, Alex said: "Firi'sry, looking for something?"_

"_I was just curious, after I saw some memories of after you fled and until you were captured over a year and a half ago. You seemed to do a great many good things on that strange human world you discovered. You reunited two families with lost parents, and stopped a wicked group from overthrowing a friend and leader on his seat of power."_

"_That would be Zuko and the Fire rebels. You didn't happen to see anything I'd like to keep private, did you?" Alex asked, suspicious. Smiling a bit, Firi'sry's humorous feelings echoed with her next words: "The blind girl, the one you cured for combat, Toph. She attracted you?"_

"_At first, but I think it was nothing more than a crush, we both agreed on that. Besides, before we came to Varya, we had a, disagreement or two."_

_In Firi'sry's mind, she saw two memories, each painful in their own way. In the Fire Palace, she winced as she saw Alex get punched brutally in the face by Toph, and later saddened as Toph couldn't bring herself to forgive Alex for lying to them for their safety and their world's safety. But the later reunion at her home, and meeting her parents, came afterwards in Firi'sry's mind._

_Laughing a bit, Firi'sry said: "You have felt love's sting then."_

"_More of a punch, actually." Alex said offhandedly. Silence between the two, and Alex voiced a nagging thought: "Firi'sry, why have you forgiven me? I have not even forgiven myself, and I doubt Sru'sky will."_

_Looking at her son, Firi'sry saw once more that in Eywa's realm, Alex was at eye level with her, so the differences in species size no longer demeaned either of them. She thought aloud to him, while her mind echoed her thoughts of reassurance and love to him: "Alex. I have already said I forgive you. You were not yourself when you did many of the terrible things you did, and you feel guilt for them. The trials and events that have determined your fate and scarred you physically and spiritually after you committed the crimes you did, were more than punishment enough. I saw the horror you were intended to become from the start of the Alliance targeting you when we met again in that colony in the Varya battle. No one deserves that fate."_

"_I still have some nightmares of what happened that day and the day before. Mir'minsk being shot, dying in my arms. Being experimented on. That's the personal reason that I fear Kal'sik, because of what he did to me." As Alex recounted his Vayra experience, flashes of the day while being controlled, and the screaming and physical pain of the implants being installed, echoed in Firi'sry's mind. In each of them, Kal'sik's face seemed to flash in a dark corner, his reptilian gaze piercing his soul._

_Feeling Alex's fear creeping back, Firi'sry saw that he needed reassurance and comfort, or at least something to take his mind off it. Coming forwards, she slowly spread her arms, watching Alex as she approached him. He saw what she was doing, and even with his pride, a small part of him missed his mother's comforting presence. Despite it being in a non reality realm, and her son and her being the same size, it felt so good to Firi'sry to hug her own son for the first time in over 2 and a half years._

_Smiling in a way a mother would only to her child, she asked as she pulled away: "Come now. Kal'sik is nowhere near here, and you have much more to share with me."_

_So Alex and Firi'sry passed the time as Rae'arlan oversaw Bal'toro transferring usable data memories to Norstith's mind and CPU. In their time, Firi'sry explained how she became an assistant to the Tsa'hik, and the comfort that she could now easily talk to H'nuptec if she ever felt lonely. She continually reminded Alex that they both forgave him, and were actually proud of him for all he accomplished with the NKI and before, ignoring his acts with the original KI._

_Alex explained his time away, including minor events, such as poisoning Se'rie's brother, him studying the culture, history and bending arts of the world he found in Solaris, and he also explained how dark matter abilities worked, with the mild telekinetic support abilities and the ways he could use it for good or perhaps reckless or malicious purposes, all of them useful, some even theatrical._

_All the while though there was a general curiosity as to what was going on with Sru'sky and her unknown, faint tag along, who were both earlier disconnected abruptly, courtesy of Xale, Azula and Aru'san._

_._

**Blazing Cliffs Willow tree site. 1 hour until the dreadnought arrival in system.**

In the past half hour, Xale, Azula and Aru'san had jointly managed to hold them hostage, with remarkably no word exchange between them. Aru'san consistently swept the lines, keeping the others back with bursts of molten metal and plasma fire, while Xale and Azula kept Sru'sky and the Vulcan face down on the ground, guns pointed at their heads.

What the NKI members were doing was keeping the UIP snoopers at bay, without harming them. What they did not know was that not all of the UIP members were present, and who exactly it was who was present.

It was Aru'san who radioed Xale and Azula: "Alert! 2 incoming aerial craft at speeds exceeding mach 4, silhouette matching cybertronian design! ETA 2 minutes."

Glaring down, Azula saw the Vulcan had very subtly contacted them, as her visor scanners noted only now the distress beacon issuing from his data device. Snarling, she fired a blue burst of fire at the ground near him, and she yelled: "Vulcan! Turn around!"

Calmly as expected of a Vulcan, he turned to face them, crouching still. As he turned, Xale had a sudden flash of memory from Alex's life, but he wasn't sure of what. Suppressing it, the male clone asked the Vulcan, his wrist plasma cannon and sword still aimed at Sru'sky's back: "Who are you?"

"My name is Ma'lekri, and you are conducting illegal activities concerning this neuro-biological organism, and illegal data caches hidden by a rogue intelligence employee."

The name sealed the truth, and Xale remembered now that Ma'lekri had been at the Sril'sask underground gladiator ring 7 and a half years ago, an undercover agent, where he saw Alex, Sru'sky, Trion and Quirinth escape in a mass breakout, and recommended them for the Frosian military academy. It seemed he was still working for the UIP intelligence. For now, Xale kept quiet, and he asked:

"I want names of those here with you, and the two cybertronians on route."

"Two mechs, Trion and Breakaway, 1 Predator, Quirinth, the Na'vi before you, Sru'sky, 2 humans, Lanver and Jack, and a Klingon, Mu'hrus."

Mentally, Xale groaned, having Trion, Quirinth and Lanver here was the icing on the cake, or at least to Alex it would be. He may have been Alex's clone, but to him, he just didn't care, they were Alex's problem, not his.

Azula recognized the names also, but seeing Aru'san swooping in to retrieve them, she kept quiet. As the draconic AI came in, Azula leapt backwards away from Ma'lekri, putting herself in the open as Xale leapt away from Sru'sky to beside her, for Aru'san to pluck off the ground in her talons for a quick exit.

In the split seconds, Aru'san swept in, her metal armour glittering a bit in the sunlight, her grey synthetic muscle rippling on her wings and body. However, Ma'lekri ignored all this, and drew his pistol very quickly. Taking as quick an aim as he could, he focused in a second, and fired.

Beyond where Aru'san's molten streams had once fallen, the others opened fire on the draconic AI swooping in.

Aru'san's sensors detected the numerous non critical, little damaging plasma bursts on her skin and armour, and she felt her talons quickly grip Xale and Azula. But as she caught Azula, she felt the firebender spasm quickly, before a quick, piercing yell sounded from her.

In her recordings Aru'san saw it. Ma'lekri's single shot had been not at herself, but Azula. A lack of time for movement by the Vulcan's desperation made the bolt miss her head, and instead hit her on the exposed middle arm.

Ignoring the fire behind her, Aru'san flew back to the Kah'traya clan as quickly as she could, Azula and Xale still firmly in her front talons. In her talons, Xale yelled with true worry: "Azula, how bad is it!"

Biting back the tears coming from her eyes, Azula looked at her middle arm, which had been foolishly un-armoured to deal with the heat and to appear non-threatening to the clan. The flesh around the joint, above and below it was burnt with the plasma bolt's heat, the skin blackened and beginning to peel a bit. The sight was horrendous, but it seemed that the wind in the air as Aru'san flew with them in her grasp cooled the wound a bit.

"AH, I'll live. I'll need some cooling water. There was a small river by the clan, land there!" Azula recited, her memory serving her well concerning the clan's mapping. Xale agreed, and radioed ahead.

Lexa received a call from Xale, and she answered, but was shocked by the news of Azula's shot mark on their escape. As Xale said they would head for the small freshwater river near the clan, before a narrow waterfall, Lexa offered more help.

"I'll go to the chief, tell her we need anything that can help treat burns! Medicine like that works well across many species, especially between humans and Na'vi!"

Dropping the comm channel, Lexa sprinted into the village, ignoring the looks she received from a few odd clan members.

At the chief's wooden hut, M'sutna saw Lexa frantically running towards her, while Kirth ran into line with her. Coming up, Lexa breathed her exclamation: "The UIP spies, they were trying to get the information we needed from Eywa! We merely disconnected them, and our people are coming back! One is wounded, burned badly on her arm!"

"She's a human, I've heard your medicine works similarly on humans as well in many cases. Do you have any treatments for burns?" Kirth also asked. With a newfound sense of urgency, M'sutna told a nearby hunter with her to go to the healer, and get various medicines and bandage wraps. The Ole'tycan said:

"My hunters will follow you to meet with your wounded friend. They will help you."

As Morthas, La'kias and Ja'hail came over to hear about the commotion, La'kias voiced a question aloud: "Why would they eavesdrop on them to this extent?"

Kirth thought, and deduced a possibility: "They may have somehow caught wind of what we were planning, and wanted to see what it was we were gathering for security reasons."

Morthas groaned, and commented: "And them disconnecting them, and one of them shooting Azula, is going to reflect badly on both sides. I hate politics."

Lexa saw the hunters by the medical hut in the distance, and commented: "Let's just get Azula the burn treatments she needs."

**1 hour until dreadnought arrival in system.**

Briefly hovering by the small river outside the clan, Aru'san laid Azula gently on the ground with her paw, while Xale practically leapt from her grasp. As the draconic AI landed a few metres away, Xale carefully pulled Azula over to the river, and smoothly and delicately plunged the burnt arm into the flowing water, leaving Azula lying on her front, head suspended over the river, while her body laid on the river bank.

"Keep that arm in there. Help is coming." Xale reassured her, his normally cool demeanour cracking slightly. Hissing in pain as the burn's searing pain subsided slightly, Azula breathed deeply, and gasped her comment:

"You do know I have suffered worse when I was training as a firebender when I was younger." Xale ignored this, and simply said: "Fire is one thing, plasma is another. Now don't move the arm."

Azula resigned under the echoing agony her arm was going through, and tried not to focus on it. Overhead, she and Xale felt the twin suns darken slightly, as Aru'san spread a single wing over them in a shading manner.

Sitting on the bank, Xale stroked Azula's hair and back soothingly as the pain from the burnt middle arm returned and receded, and he could feel her tense and gasp from the pain. Luckily the burn was bad enough that it had cauterized the flesh it had hit, so no infection would set in any time soon. Aru'san quietly observed them, maintaining what seemed like an anticipating silence.

Finally, the sounds of running footsteps too large for a human, even under Pandora's lower gravity. Xale turned, and saw Na'vi hunters and a healer, a middle aged Na'vi female, carrying some assorted pastes and what appeared to be jars of cream and primitive bandages. The healer looked at Xale, then at Aru'san's shading wing, and said to the male clone:

"_**You did the right things, we can take her from here."**_ Nodding, Xale stepped away, as the healer knelt down beside Azula with her supplies, quickly setting to work on the wound.

Azula winced as she was lifted from the water by the alien's arms, and she heard the healer mutter brief words of apology and reassurance, before applying a bluish paste of sorts. As it touched the burnt skin, Azula let loose a shriek of pain, and Xale whipped around in alarm and aggression at the sound, until he saw Azula beginning to relax as the pain soothing paste began to take its intended effect over the short term pain.

After the paste came a layer of treatment cream, which was applied over her arm, and afterwards, the bandages were wrapped tightly around her arm, locking it in an L-shape, bound by vine ropes and the rigid leaf and woven cast.

As this went on, Xale saw Lexa and the others not far behind her, and he saw Kirth suddenly nod to La'kias, who said aloud: "They're done at the site. Alex is out, and Norstith isn't far behind."

A sound from 2 kilometres away echoed, and looking up, they all saw 2 cybertronian craft approaching, one slightly larger, and a UIP shuttle approaching fast. In alert, Kirth warned: "Be ready for a confrontation! Avoid conflict if possible!"

**30 minutes until dreadnought arrival in system.**

Slightly dizzy, Alex stood up, while nearby, Firi'sry also stood up, though more composed than he did. Rae'arlan was already up, being the most experienced in Eywa's ways of all of them. Norstith quickly rose, as he was not constrained by organic bouts of disorientation.

Overcoming his adjustment to reality, Alex asked Norstith: "Is the data secure?"

Briefly thinking to himself, Norstith said: "Yes. Everything is there, from Zoran's name change to all his dealings we hadn't yet heard of."

"Yes. We can use this to end the war." Commented Alex. He heard a flutter of feathers behind him, and was unsurprised to see Se'rie scan over him worriedly, but appear relieved to see he was fine, as was her uncle.

Sha'krii came over, and asked: "What was it like? And was your journey successful?"

Norstith nodded, and said: "It was, extraordinary, an entire reality, one realm, many minds conversing all at once, as many minds and as one mind at times." He commented to Firi'sry and Rae'arlan: "Your species is lucky to have an ability to access such a wondrous natural wonder."

As Firi'sry and Rae'arlan tok some pride in the compliment, they saw Norstith's face darken a bit, and he commented: "But we were deceived all along. The final scout is much more powerful than we anticipated. Including his name change, current job and financial shares, he's one of the most powerful men in the UIP. And I don't see how Zoran will take kindly to us turning against him."

"Zoran?" Sha'krii asked, outright shocked beyond reason. Alex said: "I'm afraid so."

"I, I greeted him as a friend, and I accepted his help, when it was him all along that killed my father, and framed me for it, getting me exiled for 15 years and losing my claim to the throne." Sha'krii said. There was no outright rage in her voice, just hurt and betrayal.

Before any consoling words could be uttered to the rightful Kro'nogri Queen, a call came in from Kirth: **"Sha'krii, come in. Repeat, come in."**

Answering, Sha'krii croaked out: "Sha'krii, what is it Kirth?"

"**The situation is becoming quickly worse. The UIP spies are working for the intelligence bureau, and have the same motives as on Earth, to intercept our information we're gathering. Xale, Azula and Aru'san disrupted them, but as they escaped one of them managed to wound Azula with a plasma shot to the arm. She's wounded, but fine. However, they followed us back, a single shuttle of agents and troops, and 2 cybertronians."**

"And what are they doing?" Asked Sha'krii.

"**We didn't want to incite, so Ja'hail, Morthas, Azula, Aru'san and Xale surrendered to become prisoners within the Kah'traya clan. Myself, La'kias and Lexa have fled into the nearby forests, and are using our dark matter to hide. We shall monitor the situation."**

Now Alex was mad. He opened a channel to Kirth, and said: "We will go back to them, and call in the Dawnbreaker to pick us all up. I have a feeling it is our suspect who is organizing this fiasco with them all following us."

At Alex's words, it all made sense to those present. Zoran wanted to obviously cover his trail, and who better to lay on the trail of an old friend than Sru'sky? Lanver was called most likely due to his already past experience in inadvertently turning in Jarothes under false evidence.

This time, La'kias called in: **"It is worse though. Our last report from the Dawnbreaker says the dreadnought and its fleet is scheduled to arrive approximately 30 minutes from now. If we wish to escape, it will have to be soon."**

Cutting the channel, Sha'krii said with a surfacing anger: "We move now. I won't let the UIP intelligence get in the way of our victory if they're being misled. None of them shall stand against us."

The other three agreed with her eagerly, and before Firi'sry, Rae'arlan or any of the present hunters could stop them, the four ran out of the cavernous willow tree chamber, and in a fleeting glimpse, weapons began appearing from concealed compartments in limbs, or from pockets or belts.

"_**We must get back to the clan, and warn them of this conflict and of the incoming fleet!" **_Rae'arlan exclaimed. With no other word, they all followed, while Firi'sry thought for a brief moment:

_Sru'sky. Now it is you who is being misled. Please Eywa, spare her from a end today._

**15 minutes until dreadnought arrival in system.**

Back in the Kah'traya clan, as Alex, Norstith, Se'rie and Sha'krii ran through, they saw the clan members gathered away from the eastern side of the village, where they could see the outline of at least the larger cybertronian, this one dark metal grey and with electric blue linings on parts of his structure. He was obviously a Seeker, with a lightweight built and jets on his back.

Running into a small open area, they came across the 'prisoner site'. In the centre, surrounded by a dozen agents with guns, were Azula, being held close by Xale for her burn's healing and defensively, and Ja'hail and Morthas stood underneath Aru'san's extended wing, who seemed to glare and sometimes snarl at the larger cybertronian.

They then saw them, UIP and NKI alike.

It was then that one of the humans, a black male, recognized Alex, who also recognized him: "Lanver? You're part of this?"

"I'm just following orders!"

"Of course you are, why else would you be here?" Alex said this back, but then he saw Sru'sky glaring at him, but beside her was an even worse face, her mandibles flaring and clicking in a mixture of anxiety and determination:

"Quirinth? Somehow you being in on this doesn't surprise me."

Se'rie nudged Alex, and he saw that the smaller mech was a very familiar blue optics, 15 foot silver mech, compared to the other mech, Breakaway, a metal grey and blue trimmed 26 foot frame. At this point, Alex had about had enough, but of the leaders, he did not recognize the true leader, the Vulcan. That was, until he spoke:

"You and your NKI officers have been associating with a rogue agent within the UIP intelligence bureau, an act punishable by imprisonment, on top of other sentences in your case, for all of you. I believe your male clone can remind you of who I am."

Xale sneered at the Vulcan, and said: "Alex, he's Ma'lekri, the one who recommended you and the three bastards here for the Frosian academy after the gladiator rings!"

"Before you comment, I have indeed kept to my employment as an intelligence officer. And as we are all aware of the time constraint with the incoming dreadnought fleet, I offer you a choice. Either you hand us over the data, or my superiors tell the UIP forces to declare the NKI he enemy. Until you hand us over the data, I systematically hurt or execute your associates."

Charging his pistol, Ma'lekri fired a low power shot at Ja'hail. The plasma bolt struck his arm, the plasma doing little damage on his arm due to his natural and synthetic armour plating, but still hurting a lot.

"Give me what we want, and this situation shall not divulge into a less desirable one."

**Chapter 16 done and dusted. I must admit I'm enjoying this section of the story.**

**Please review, I am actually getting desperate for a review of the story so far! I can't improve anything if I get no feedback, and any reviews will inspire me more creatively!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 17: Dreadnought, Kal'sik.**

**25th September 2901**

**Alpha Centuari, Pandora, Kahtra'ya clan.**

**10 minutes until scheduled Dreadnought arrival in Alpha Centuari system.**

"Give us the data you retrieved, or I will begin wounding your comrades, as I have already done to your Kro'nogri partner, and if you continue to not comply, I will execute them." Ma'lekri said, no shred of emotion in his voice.

In a desperate scenario, Alex exchanged a glance at Sha'krii, Norstith and Se'rie. They all knew Zoran was the one, but it was Norstith who held the hard evidence in data form in his head. If they complied, it would likely mean handing over Norstith, and possibly losing him. And time was short, and if Zoran was as wide reaching and treacherous as the evidence hinted at, Kal'sik might know they were here.

Sha'krii gazed at the UIP agents and troops, feeling a small sliver of pity, as they were likely also being deceived. But there was no time to reveal Zoran's treachery, there were too many crucial details. But they could not lose the data.

Probing cautiously, Se'rie decided to question: "Why are you following us? I know the excuse that we're working with a 'rogue' intelligence agent, but this? What have we done for you to threaten to kill our friends?"

"Shut it, slut bird! You've collected information too valuable for the UIP to lose!" Retorted Quirinth. She saw Alex send her a murderous glare, but mentally, he was counting how many chances he was giving Quirinth before he had enough of her attitude.

Looking at Sru'sky, Alex commented: "Sru'sky. So, how exactly were you, my stepsister, reigned in to help Ma'lekri destroy our one hope for a sooner end to the war?"

"I am not your sister. I cut all ties with you the moment you ended my father's life." Sru'sky replied, her voice like a venom coated blade. At this stage, any insults Sru'sky threw were meaningless, and Alex said: "And yet I saved you life, and my forces saved Pandora and New Cybertron. Besides, your mother feels you are too quick to judge me."

"DON'T EVEN TALK ABOUT MY MOTHER! YOU HURT HER WORSE THAN YOU WILL EVER KNOW!" Sru'sky snapped, and Trion had to actually lay a restraining servo on her shoulder, the 15 foot mech holding the Na'vi female back from charging the dark matter user human.

Hearing frantic footsteps, Norstith looked back briefly, but quickly regained eye contact with the UIP members: "Rae'arlan, M'sutna, Firi'sry, Tsu'kal. It might be better if you get to shelter with the rest of the clan!"

Gasping, Sru'sky yelled at Alex: "You brought my own mother here! Are you going to break her heart even more!"

"No Sru'sky. I helped them retrieve the information." Firi'sry said, her voice an icy cool tone. Now Sru'sky was silent, and at her expression, Firi'sry knew time was short, but an explanation would have to come at some point.

Pointing his pistil at Azula, Ma'lekri interrupted: "I reiterate my point. Present us with the information we want, or I shall execute them, starting with the girl. She is already wounded, and it might be prudent if I put her out of her misery." Azula's eyes narrowed in rage at this, and she prepared to fight, one handed if need be. Ma'lekri was surprised at her expression, normally a threat like the one he just gave would inspire fear.

Norstith sighed, and declared: "We don't have a hard device holding any data we gathered. We only have it in our minds."

The Klingon smirked, and said in his guttural tone: "We have ways of making you talk. We need to retrieve the information." Ma'lekri reconsidered his threat: "In light of this, I insist you tell us which of you holds the memories."

Before Norstith could even begin to say anything, Alex said: "I have the data!"

Looking at Alex, all of them saw a look of resignation cross his face: "I have the data, all in my mind. If you release them, I shall go with you."

"No!" Se'rie uttered in panic. Looking back, Alex briefly flashed a smile, mouthing silently: "Trust me."

Nodding, Ma'lekri ordered Breakaway, Trion, Sru'sky, Quirinth, Lanver and all others to focus slightly more on Alex, while they released their prisoners from gunpoint. Quickly, Morthas and Ja'hail got up and joined the other visible NKI members, with Aru'san stomping over with them, her wings folded in and her draconic face a snarl. Xale helped Azula get up, and walked back with her, the firebender's arm still restrained in the burn wrapping.

As soon as they were across, in a few huts away, Kirth motioned for La'kias to throw the concussive grenades. They would explode, sending small, powerful seismic waves in the ground.

Suddenly, the ground near the UIP members erupted in smoke, dust, and shaking, as the concussive grenades fell and quickly detonated. In the chaos, the NKI members backed off, while Alex took the initiative at the distraction, and yelled aloud as he deployed his turbofan pack and dark matter wings: "Come and get me!"

With a roar, Alex flew off, diving down the cliff face to fly close to the crashing sea waves. His face just briefly flashing a scowl of annoyance, Ma'lekri commanded: "Pursue him! I want him alive!"

Nodding, Breakaway leapt into the air, spinning in a barrel roll forwards in the air as he transformed into a light UIP fighter craft, with a few spiky features associated with Cybertronian design. The Seeker, or Aerialbot as he was called in the civil war, flew off in hot pursuit.

Behind him, Trion readied to fly off with his back fusion rockets and nearby fighter frame to join, but a sudden blast in the back sent him tumbling forwards with a painful yell. Behind him, Aru'san had fired her molten metal mass accelerator cannon at Trion, the kinetic impact limited by his new portable shields, but the heat energy driving him backwards as his back armour was slightly melted or warped by the intense beam.

As the UIP opened fire, the NKI members ducked for cover, while lethal fire exchanged between both sides. From another hut, a dark tentacle extended, and the Klingon rose to the air, screaming, until he was smashed onto his head like a rag doll, the reptilian skull cracking with the impact. Lexa was triumphant, but Xale had to cover her with a dark shield as the second human trooper opened fire. A quick shot from his own pistol knocked the human back a few steps, and he readied a shot to kill.

A thunderous bang sounded then, and from behind Xale a bolt of pure lightning fired, puncturing the human's body like a pure energy spear. The male clone could feel the static from the attack, and he looked back to see Azula standing slightly out of breath from the attack, fired from her good arm's hand with two fingers.

"Restrain them! I am going to follow Alex!" Kirth yelled, emerging from the tent. With a quick eagle like growl, he leapt into the air, his wings lifting him, and a built in jet boost pack providing him with the speed to find Alex within reasonable time.

Already weaving between the rock stacks in the 'coastal debris' field, Alex could not shake the Aerialbot off his tail. The only reason Alex was still alive was that Breakaway wanted him alive, and he could only do so by grabbing him, a harder task than initially anticipated.

But far worse was yet to come, and as Alex barrel rolled to avoid Breakaway swooping past, a partially transformed servo trying to seize him mid flight, the alert sounded on all of them, and the message on all frequencies:

"**UIP Defensive fleet high alert! Dreadnought fleet has arrived, 1 Dreadnought, 3 cruisers, 3 destroyers and 4 frigates! Intensify evacuation of populated centres and colonies on Pandora and Keletari!"**

As Alex rolled away, he could see Breakaway in the distance, in bipedal mode and flying, nervously glance skywards.

**Alpha Centuari system, Planet Polyphemus orbit/interlunar space.**

"**Target the main ships of the fleet, and deploy the fortresses to the planet surfaces. Priority is to Keletari, but target the designated populated areas of Pandora also."** Kal'sik's orders, over real time FTL comms, were followed to the letter by the Dreadnought's AI and its command crew.

Raining destruction onto the defending UIP fleet, it was almost one sided, as the UIP only managed to damage 2 of the destroyers and slightly graze 1 cruiser in a lucky first shot scenario.

Return fire from the Alliance reclaimed dominance.

The maelstrom of laser fire and missiles from the Alliance cruisers, destroyers, frigates and the Dreadnought's weapon emplacements thundered across space. Before the lasers even landed on their targets during their 1 light second traverse of space at light speed velocity, the main gun of the Dreadnought fired off a specialized pair of warheads at 0.1 per cent of light speed. One was a concentrated EMP burst warhead, the second a general purpose antimatter warhead. To make matters worse, the warheads had a guidance system of small, cheap thrusters.

Tearing into the shields, the laser fire shook the UIP fleet ships, led by the Battleship Hadraal, named for an ancient Sril'sask god of war. The crew held onto their seats and steadied their stances as the ships stood firm. But the lasers were merely a precursor.

Nearly 15 seconds after the lasers hit, the two dreadnought shots smashed into the Hadraal within a matter of seconds of each other. The EMP warhead overloaded the shields, and critically overloaded targeting systems. Sensors were scrambled for a brief moment also, and shields were down.

Before a reaction could be gotten from the crew, the antimatter round hit the bow, destroying the main forward guns, the bridge, and consuming the hull and many hundreds of crew and soldiers aboard instantly in the blazing bright explosion, magnificent, powerful, but silent in the vacuum of space.

Reeling from the explosion, the Hadraal veered off course, spinning away from the momentum of the dreadnought shell impact and explosions, now resembling a fish in a lake, with its front half, or head, ripped off by a much larger predator.

All the while, frantic, panicking radio chatter was exchanged between the UIP fleet ships, as they struggled to hold back the advancing fleet intent on Armageddon, while the attempt at an evacuation of both planets at their predicted targets was underway.

As the Dreadnought fleet closed in, several shapes detached from its hull, 20 in total, each measuring 300 metres in length, and 200 metres in width and height. These were the fortresses, frigate sized vessels designed for overwhelming ground assault. With built in fusion coils, they rocketed towards both populated moons so far away, flanked by a horde of defending Alliance fighters and bombers, under the cover of the Alliance fleet's combined fire.

As they drew within halfway of both populated moons, a small portion of the fortress fleet broke off from the main group, with 15 fortresses heading for Keletari, and 5 for Pandora. Their targets, designated populated areas, or targets of tactical or strategic worth. They were an advance strike, to ensure that those were ensured to be destroyed, even with the Dreadnought eventually raining destruction upon the planet in question.

All the more reason for the NKI and UIP members on Pandora now to deal with their infighting.

**Alpha Centuari, Pandora, Kahtra'ya clan.**

"You won't get away with this, Buzzard!" Yelled one of the human soldiers, wincing as they were tied up against the hut support beam. Standing over him, Norstith rolled his eyes/optics, commenting: "Try and prove your insistence that you are a more civilized race than mine, and stop hurling such laughable insults."

Nearby, as Norstith stepped away, Aru'san growled as she pressed Trion into the earth, her mouth shimmering with the heat of a prepared molten metal blast: "Try not to resist my grasp, otherwise your back armour will be warped into a heap of slag."

Sru'sky was restrained nearby, against another wooden beam, with Quirinth tied to the same beam as her. Smiling a bit, Lexa asked politely: "Now you won't go anywhere, right?"

"Go die in a hole, clone." Spat Quirinth. Sru'sky scowled beside her, annoyed at Quirinth's unproductive attitude, but was worried for Trion, and at the extreme levels of restraint having to be used on her beloved mech.

Stepping away, Lexa called over to Xale and Ja'hail: "Those two aren't going anywhere right?" Over at another hut's beam, Ja'hail knotted the rope, restraining Ma'lekri and the Klingon to the beam. Chuckling, Ja'hail nodded, saying: "They're sticking around alright."

But one rope was slightly loose, and as Xale backed away, Ma'lekri swung out a leg, the Vulcan's foot colliding with Xale's torso. A grunt of pain, and Xale was on the floor, winded from the blow, and the Vulcan's strength, enhanced by their native high gravity world, cracked a rib.

Panicking, Ja'hail grabbed Ma'lekri, and tied the rope much more thoroughly around the Vulcan's legs. Azula ran over, her arm still in her sling, and turned Xale onto his back: "Xale! Xale! Talk to me!"

"Ugh, I think a rib's cracked. AH! Yeah, its cracked! Not broken, but cracked!" Xale seethed over the pain. Ja'hail looked at the Vulcan at this comment, saying: "That armour he had on, and you still cracked a rib. I'm going to be keeping an eye on you Vulcan."

"Likewise, reptilian savage." Commented Ma'lekri, his voice as calm as ever.

Pulling Xale over to the side for medical aid, Sha'krii saw La'kias gazing with a hard look towards the sky. Tentatively, she asked: "La'kias? What's wrong?"

"The Dreadnought fleet has arrived."

"Yeah, we already know that. But the UIP fleet's holding them off for now." Summarized Ja'hail. Shaking his head, La'kias said aloud: "There are 20 smaller frigate sized craft headed to locations on this moon and Keletari, their targets are heavily populated areas."

Suddenly, shouts of alarm and some of awe echoed from far away, where the clan members were emerging from on the other side of the clan. Looking at the clan, M'sutna saw they were all looking skywards, and saw it along with all others present.

High above in the sky, probably several dozen kilometres up still, was a very large burning ball of fire, silently blazing its way across the sky. A very large object on a re-entry approach, at high speed. Several much smaller trails of fire could be barely seen alongside it.

Analysing reports over comms he intercepted, Norstith said: "This is one method Kal'sik employs now on heavily defended worlds. He uses these smaller craft to soften up targets, sneaking by the main fleets while his dreadnought fleet occupies them. Then he sends in the heavy orbital strikes. Obviously the defensive fleet has prompted him to send in the Fortresses."

A surge of panic rose in them all, and La'kias called on his comm device: "Dawnbreaker! Are you incoming on approach!"

"**We're trying Lieutenant! We're having to take a slower approach to avoid detection by scanners, otherwise we'll be cut in half by those Fortresses and their fighters! We'll arrive in about half an hour! But heads up, one of the 5 Fortresses is making an approach to land approximately 40 kilometres away from your position! Any populated areas I'd recommend evacuating or hiding!"**

Killing his comm device, La'kias looked desperate now, but managed to calm himself, nodding at Sha'krii. Taking command, the female Kro'nogri talked to Ole'tycan M'sutna and Tsa'hik Rae'arlan: "There's a very large enemy ship coming in to hit this general area! You need to get your clan members to safety, if you fight back you can't win! No one can win against these things!"

"_**We will hide the clan in the forests, and abandon the village! Even their senses will have trouble finding us in a forest full of wildlife!" **_Running off, M'sutna and Rae'arlan could be heard calling and commanding their clan under control. Back with the UIP hostages, Tsu'kal asked: "What will you do with these people?"

"Bait for the Fortress maybe?" Suggested Xale, his eyes trained harshly on Ma'lekri for him cracking his rib and scorching Azula's arm with a shot. Firi'sry had an admonished look, but it was quelled when Ja'hail, normally a man who takes amusement from such suggestions, said: "No, we've got no use of them. We just leave them here, we can possibly get away when the Dawnbreaker comes."

"You can't just leave us here!" Trion yelled, his vocabulator muffled in the ground under Aru'san's weight. Morthas said calmly: "We could. A Cybertronian like yourself is a high value target."

Finally, Sru'sky couldn't hold it in any longer: "Why mother! Why are you helping them! They're traitors to both their sides! You helped Alex, do you not remember what he did to father?"

"I remember a boy who could not think for himself yet, who was traumatized by betrayal and driven by vengeance. H'nuptec has forgiven Alex, as I have spoken with him through Eywa's will, and so I have forgiven him also. But my daughter, you must understand that I forgave him only after understanding his motivations and mental state that day, and of before, and also once I realized the pain such acts caused him forever afterwards. Please Sru'sky, this is not a time to let your head be clouded by rage. There is a much greater evil on the way." Firi'sry insisted, her voice clear and honest to her daughter.

Se'rie looked at the options, and saw Quirinth still eyeing her suspiciously: "Look at it this way, all of you. You can either let us help you get away, and you'll live, as long as you stop chasing us."

Lexa offered the alternative: "Or we leave you here to be destroyed. I think you've interrupted our work to end the war too much, so I'm more and more in favour of the latter option."

Suddenly, Norstith interrupted them: "Listen up, reports just came in of a few shapes, only just detected on scanners, raining down over the planet from the fortresses! Infantry sized, invisible! And there are some headed towards this place. Be ready!"

A sonic boom sounded somewhere, and they knew that they had already arrived.

Out in the debris field, the chase between Breakaway and Alex had halted at the sight of the Fortress coming into the atmosphere overhead, allowing Alex to rapidly sneak into the rock stack labyrinth and hide within a small crevice, too small by Breakaway's standards, and go over the tactical news in peace.

As soon as Alex had read reports of incoming air drop units, he heard the tell tale sonic boom of them approaching quickly.

He could not risk losing anyone in the NKI leaders, they were all his allies, some his friends, and he definitely could not lose Se'rie, or his newly regained mother figure.

Ignoring his possible capture, Alex flew out of the crevice, and went to full throttle, honing in on the sounds of erupting plasma and gun fire over where the clan outskirts were.

As he flew, he heard a distant gunning of jets behind him, as he knew Breakaway was pursuing again. But he also heard a faint flutter of feathers and a limited jet pack roar, as Kirth drew alongside him:

"I think we've overstayed our welcome here. The Alliance has arrived in force."

"Somehow after hearing about Zoran's dealings, I'm not surprised we're being directly attacked!" Yelled Alex. The Leg'hrul and Human, once warriors of different sides now allies, flew in to confront the minions of a real life monster.

The decision had been quickly made, that for now a common enemy would unite the UIP and NKI members. Time was short, so hardly any thinking was done about it.

As soon as the UIP agents were free, the laser and gun fire erupted from the forest and around a rocky outcropping. Everyone leaping to cover, only the second human UIP agent was killed.

Firing back, Sha'krii yelled to Firi'sry and Tsu'kal: "GO! Get away with the clan while we hold them off!"

Tsu'kal complied willingly, but Firi'sry hung back unsurely. Her two children were here, and Sru'sky saw her looking at her desperately. She screamed: "Mother! Go!"

It was Firi'sry's hesitation that saved her life.

As she turned to finally run with Tsu'kal, she saw Tsu'kal get hit by a powerful plasma bolt from far away, a sniper shot, and the bolt pierced his body, and he sprawled onto the dirt, dead to all the world as it had punctured his heart and left lung.

Pulling Firi'sry back, Norstith yelled over the gunfire: "Too late! If you want to survive stay with us! But keep low! Keep an eye on our rear front, tell us if they're flanking us!"

A few tense minutes in, and the Alliance forces, now unconcealed, had begun to retreat, despite suffering only a handful of troop losses. But the victory was short lived.

As the Klingon agent fired another round from his hand cannon, he felt a large blade puncture his chest, impaling a lung. Gasping, he looked down to see a plasma coated vibro blade sticking out of his chest, his blood dripping from the wound. His armour was not designed to withstand such blade impacts, hardly any armour was.

Hearing the Klingon's gasp, Ja'hail whirled to see the cause, and just glimpsed the blade retracting beneath the cloaking from the Klingon's chest. Bringing a plasma shotgun to fire, Ja'hail yelled as he fired: "Cloaked enemy!"

A single blast sent the enemy in question recoiling, and the discharge from the shields absorbing the impact overloaded the cloaking device. Before them, what appeared to be an advanced infantry unit stood, covered in heavy armour and many weapons, including the blade that stabbed the Klingon agent.

As Ja'hail fired another shot, the Infantry unit raised an arm cannon, and it was only by Norstith's quick deploying of a dark shield for Ja'hail that saved his life, barely. The cannon fired an explosive tipped shell, nto only hitting but shattering the dark shield, the impact, heat, and some non-lethal but slightly harmful shrapnel hitting Ja'hail hard.

The mercenary spun away, landing 10 feet away, safe from all but his attacker's fire. The infantry unit raised its cannon again, but a dark matter wave blasted it from the side, knocking it onto its back. Nearby, Morthas and La'kias had worked together to push the unit down. Azula and Xale, slightly wounded and away from fighting the gradually retreating Alliance soldiers further away, pointed a lighting poised finger position and a wrist rifle barrel at the unit respectively.

Emitting what sounded like a hiss, the heavy infantry unit slowly climbed to its feet again, before a voice spoke from it, one with a hint of amusement to it: "Multiple Dark Matter users? My source was right in warning me of the capabilities you traitors posses. I have ways of dealing with you."

Standing upright, the heavy infantry unit began projecting an overlayer of a hologram, coating itself in the image to appear like a person, The heavy infantry unit shimmered briefly, before a flash was made, and in its place stood the image of a tan yellow, green scaled Kro'nogri. His neck and face bore the tell tale signs of synthetic implants, and his body covered in armour that seemed to heavy for a normal Kro'nogri to wear. Of course this was a hologram, but of who it was stopped all conflict.

Bemused, the hologram folded its arms behind its back, commenting aloud: "Norstith. I see you are still alive, in a way, and fighting on uselessly for a lost cause. And if I am not mistaken, this is your niece. I must say, the false reports of your family's death had me for a while, but if you were there, with that mercenary scum I once hired as part of Varya security, the deaths of my assassins seems like no surprise."

Norstith took a step back, gesturing for Se'rie to back away also. Ja'hail raised his rifle to bear, but backtracked slightly also. This was not good, if the Kro'nogri was intimidating Ja'hail and Norstith, not even in person. Looking around, he saw La'kias, and asked with a hint of amusement: "Oh, and Kirth's loyal dog. Where is that Ghost by the way? Fled the battle again? And before it has even begun, now that is shameful."

La'kias frowned, and responded with a calm, venomous tone: "You are one to speak Kal'sik. What are you doing so far ahead of your strike fleet?"

Preparing an electronic weapon inside the hologram projecting infantry unit's frame, Kal'sik merely said: "I wished to see the destruction of the core leadership of the NKI for myself, and ensure it happened. As I speak, a Fortress is headed here, and you will die by its firepower. Alternatively, you can try to flee, as I know your frigate is imcoming. But, I must urge you not to flee, otherwise, that village there, and the forests within 10 miles of it, likely where the tribal filth hid, will be reduced to ash, as you will see."

As he spoke, just over 30 kilometres away, missiles and railgun projectiles stormed from their source, and by the time he finished, just 3 seconds after his last words, the projectiles landed.

The village shook in an earthquake as the first railgun round hit, a plasma coated kinetic impact projectile, the energy released equal to a 1000 pound bomb. Huts lit up in flames, and the roar of other supersonic railgun projectiles falling and 2 missiles hitting the forests sounded after they hit, the village now ablaze in one large section, but standing, but a large section of surrounding forest had been levelled by the concussive shockwave of the missile warheads. It was not known how many Na'vi were hidden in that part of he forest.

The only confirmation of assured deaths was the screams of those that survived, and of those who witnessed the victims be shaken and crushed by the force of the explosions, or burnt.

Kal'sik's face was a sick smile, enjoying what destruction he had jut fired on the Kah'traya as a warning shot.

Lexa was now afraid, and she mustered up what little voice she could, and asked: "What have we done to deserve this? The war was one thing, but this? They had no reason to be harmed, they've done nothing!"

Kal'sik shook his head, and merely replied: "Insignificant human. You fail to see that I am systematically reducing each UIP race to a level where they will be sufficiently weakened so they can never harm the Alliance races again. We are your superiors, we do this to protect ourselves, and we spare you so we can protect you from our full power. You should consider your races lucky that I am merely weakening you, though complete extermination of your filthy existence seems attractive at many points."

Seeing the collective horror of everyone here, Kal'sik decided to indulge himself one last time, and turned to Sha'krii: "Ah yes, the Princess in Exile. If I might make a comment, your brother was very supportive of me, and I agree with my King in that you truly deserve what I will unleash. I might also say, my Leg'hrul King, and your former husband to be if I am not mistaken, certainly needed to be taught a lesson in the necessities in this conflict. He will soon realize that the galaxy was made for the Alliance to conquer, and he was selfish to abandon my raids, and go against Lo'rath's urging, over 'moral' grounds. His stay in hospital should give him time to think over this."

"You are a monster Kal'sik, and I will not stand by and let you continue to commit genocide." Sha'krii said. She was confident, as Kal'sik was only in hologram. But Kal'sik was not done. He then said while briefly looking out at the rock stack fields and beyond:

"My Fortress draws nearer, and so those that treacherous human experiment and Kirth. I must ensure though, that when you all die, those among you who can manipulate dark matter as I can, are brought down to the level of your fellow traitors, you have been using these gifts against the Alliance for too long. After all, I feel if you are all to die, I shall kill you all with the same level of power."

As he finished, the hologram of Kal'sik vanished, the infantry unit self destructing, having sustained damage prior to the message, enough to have it engage its anti capture protocols. At the same moment, every dark matter user felt a sudden headache. La'kias clutched his head, while Morthas yelled: "What's happening!"

Flying over, luckily ahead of Breakway but still 2 kilometres away from the hostage place, Alex and Kirth had heard Kal'sik over comms, and saw the projectiles strike the village from a distance. Then the mental attack came.

Nearly falling out of the air, Kirth yelled in pain a bit, while Alex clutched his forehead in pain, both alarmed to the sudden pain.

Dark matter flaring around him, Xale gasped as the headache suddenly vanished, and like everyone else, his dark matter reserves fled into their storage tanks or compartments.

He tried to use it again, but this time, no matter how hard he thought, nothing happened. Morthas, La'kias, Lexa and Norstith all had the same issue. His dark matter no longer outside his body, Norstith's Leg'hrul synthetic shell was now out for all the world to see. He resembled a metal bodied Leg'hrul, but despite his wing extensions, he lacked dark matter to form a membrane and disguising feathers, so he could not fly except with his turbofan booster pack. He was a grounded Leg'hrul, bound by his synthetic body. However, it was also Norstith who revealed what happened: "Kal'sik released a jamming signal, powerful, it had temporarily disabled our dark matter nodes and control interfaces. It's powerful enough that it will likely not wear off for a whole day."

In the distance, a metallic rumbling was heard, as the distant Fortress approached, its shape still bound within a protective outer shell structure like a giant sphere.

**Chapter 17 done and dusted.**

**I don't mean to sound desperate, but if anyone is reading this, if anyone has any critique of me, or constructive criticism, please review my story. I would be happy to receive any helpful advice or simple opinions on the story, just so I can get some idea of feedback.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 18: Ashes of death part 1.**

**25th September 2901**

**Alpha Centuari, Pandora, Kahtra'ya clan.**

"Incoming craft, 3 fighter class and 2 heavy gunships, troop carriers! ETA 2 minutes!" Yelled La'kias, seeing his scanners picking up the other readings. Even further back, the massive energy signature of the approaching Fortress was clear on the scanners in his visor.

"Dawnbreaker is on route, we need to leave as soon as it's here." Added Ja'hail. As Sha'krii acknowledged this, a call came through on comms, broadcast aloud over Morthas's comm channel. Through the speakers came Kirth's voice, his tone a composed calmness, but could easily be heard as masking panic:

"**I am heading back, Alex is ahead of me, and the flying cybertronian is closing in on us, and a fighter is locking onto its signal. I suggest getting to cover when we fly past."**

Sure enough, a loud roar was heard as Alex flew by, not sparing them a single glance as he flew at full throttle away from where he came from, somewhere from the rock stack fields. In the distance, a turbofan boosted Kirth arrived, just as Breakaway flew around the last rock stack just 2 kilometres away, transforming in mid air from his fighter mode. Barrel rolling, Breakaway went to full thrust, closing the gap to a half kilometre by the time Kirth just reached the cliff edge.

Before he could get any closer, the spray of laser fire tore into the aerialbot's back, the mech screeching in agony as he spiralled into a mid air barrel roll, the pain spasms affecting his flight control. Firing his thrusters erratically, he flew a few dozen feet above Kirth and the group on the cliff tops.

Ducking in panic, the group of UIP and NKI members saw Breakaway fly over, shrieking until he smashed head first into the ground beyond them, and plough into the rainforest edge, dirt and plants erupting around his dented and burnt frame.

The roar of an Alliance strike fighter's fusion thrusters 4 kilometres away sounded, as it continued its course to destroy the aerial bot.

"**Aru'san! Intercept the fighters!" **Alex's voice called in, and in a second the draconian AI took off, wings beating and thrusters at full, primary weapon charging in her mouth. It was a 2 second gap before she fired her molten metal stream, the concentrated molten metal firing like a laser itself at speeds near to 50 kilometres a second. The beam hit the fighter, the heat energy and kinetic force overloading ray and particle shields alike, and tore into the fighter, ripping it in half.

Mere seconds after this victory, Aru'san's scanners detected the other fighters locking onto her signal. The draconian AI needed to avoid detection, and with a shriek, fired a small EMP disruptor missile, detonating it a kilometre from herself, too weak to harm anything, just o disrupt scanners for a few moments.

Aru'san cloaked immediately, and began circling around, waiting for the other fighters and craft to present themselves. But she could not attack too often for too long each time, lest the Fortress lock onto her with long range weapons.

Landing on two feet, stumbling slightly, Kirth spoke immediately: "Those landing craft were undoubtedly sent for us. We are still awaiting the Dawnbreaker, but we must destroy those troops before they can do too much damage to us. Survival of the data holder is vital. If the Dawnbreaker comes in, it can provide more than enough power to destroy the Fortress."

Even as Kirth spoke, they were all hidden beneath a small canopy of large ferns, with only the UIP members out in the open. Overhead and in a further section of jungle, the first Alliance transport gunship dropped its units from mid air, the troopers landing on the ground safely due to cables from the gunship or flight packs.

"Find the natives, any of them, and kill them. The remainder of you come with me." The leader called. The troopers were an amalgamation of Leg'hrul, Kro'nogri and mech troopers. Their leader was in fact a mech, much larger, more powerful and intelligent than a normal mech, but not due to an AI brain. On its own it was as intelligent as any other mech trooper, but when it was remotely controlled by Kal'sik through a love FTL comm. Feed.

_**That old mech trooper body was weak, merely a messenger. Now I come to end them.**_

Breakaway groaned as he struggled to lie on his back, his wings painfully dented and cracked from the crash and laser fire. Lying on his back against a tree, he saw some of the UIP members staring over at the sight of him, weapons ready lest they too be ambushed, their faces, particularly Trion's growing with alarm, being able to see what was happening.

From behind Breakaway came a soft clicking, and a hail of particle beam bolts tore into the aerial bot's back, searing his circuits and delicate wiring and protoform sections. Screeching in pain in a language indiscernible to organics, Breakway heard metal booted feet walking around, just as he saw the largest mech unit, flanked by other mech units, Kro'nogri and Leg'hrul marines, aim their weapons at him.

"This thing is of no use to us, and his mission has failed. At last he has done the favour of delivering himself to me. Finish it." Spoke the largest mech.

Particle fire tore into the mech, while the largest mech unit looked towards the UIP members, only half of them able to face him at the moment.

Smirking to himself over the remote control comm channel, Kal'sik mused aloud: "Zoran was helpful. He delivers these high profile UIP people to me, and the NKI members, in addition to the details of this system's fleet makeup. If he maintains this string of favours, I believe the deal I made with him shall be well deserved. Such a pity I won't be able to attack the Predator homeworld because of it. I suppose this world and others shall do instead."

"Look! The forest's on fire! They're going after the tribe people!" Yelled Lexa, pointing to the growing smoke clouds rising from the rainforest, explosions and incendiaries dropped from another fighter craft's munitions load echoing back, as well as gunfire.

"Where is the Dawnbreaker!" Yelled Morthas, checking his weapons, ready for a fight. As he turned, he saw something wrong with the UIP. One was missing. It seemed that the Vulcan had slipped away.

Before Morthas could yell, just as some of the other NKI people noticed the escapees, and just as Alex quickly flew under the cover they had, the ground around the UIP prisoners began to erupt in gunfire impacts from particle bolts and mass accelerator chip bullets. As the UIP ran for cover, one of the human troopers was struck in the foot, slowing him down, his cry of pain silenced as another round shot through his chest, cleanly puncturing his lung. His chest deflating slowly, the human keeled over, gradual oxygen and blood loss settling in to end him.

Sha'krii took the initiative and yelled out: "Split up into groups! We'll regroup when the Dawnbreaker is clear to pick us up!" She yelled this as well to the UIP members, who she looked to quickly as they retreated to the large cover area of foliage the NKI had: "If you want to survive, come with us for now!"

There seemed to be no arguments, considering what was approaching. With that, they split up, staying to the rainforest edges, but making their way more towards the cliff edges, caves, and in some cases, the village.

"Follow each group. I want tracking on them all. The NKI will never recover with its head gone."

Kal'sik's words were received by his troopers and mechs, as they gave chase, weapons primed and ready for conflict. The command mech platform shimmered as the hologram appeared over it, forming the familiar sight of the Kro'nogri. He was one with his own Dreadnought AI, and interfaced directly with the platform over the comm link. Despite being dozens of light years away, he could command and move as if he were there on Pandora in person.

And he would personally ensure his demands were met, as sometimes high profile, or high importance deaths, required a personal touch to ensure the deaths. He knew that he could not rely on the Fortress for a precision strike, especially with the Dawnbreaker due in. With that he would merely prevent them from coming out into the open.

Finding them in the natural cave and village labyrinths he could handle. And it seemed that there were 4 distinct groups. One of them held someone of great importance to Kal'sik.

The Kro'nogri platform made his way over, noting the biological signatures of multiple species. To his irritation, he saw one was of a race he was in a deal to work to preserve more than the others. Kal'sik's contact provided him with key intelligence, and if he found out that this Predator was killed needlessly, as Kal'sik wished, the deal might turn sour.

There would only be mercy towards the Predator, but only for what she was.

Running with Firi'sry and Quirinth, something he never thought he'd be doing a day ago, Alex yelled as they ran over the clifftops, hugging a section of rainforest edge: "Where's your Banshee!"

"Su'krala was in the village, but she can't come and pick us up until we are clear of this forest!" Firi'sry replied. Looking out to sea, Quirinth saw a dark shape growing larger, and recognized it right away.

"Alex! You're not telling us something about this Fortress!" Yelled Quirinth. Immediately halting, Alex whipped around to face her, near growling: "I told you everything there is that I know!"

"Then explain why that thing a dozen or so miles away looks so much like a Behemoth design you might have!" Yelled Quirinth, gesturing to the gradually approaching, castle sized mechanical titan.

Firi'sry also looked out, and she too recognized the shape, or at least certain aspects of it. It resembled a 6 legged crab, but with a very tall shell, like a fat cone shape, with numerous intimidating edges and angular sections protruding from its 'shell'. The six legs were very well armoured, and by now the sight could be seen that the Fortress unit was in fact walking, taking a ground based, safe approach, in order not to be possibly weakened by the magnetic flux fields around the clan and its rock stack fields out by the coast. The seas roiled where it stepped, even after its weight was reduced by antigravity generators necessary for a quick takeoff.

And in retrospect, it was difficult not to see a 300 metre tall, AI machine of war approaching from just 15 or so kilometres away. Especially when it so resembled a certain family of smaller machines fielded on Pandora and New Cybertron during Varya by the KI remnant.

Both the angry Predator and concerned Na'vi mother looked to Alex, who was thoughtful for a moment, before a look of realization swept over his face. He continued to lead them on, saying dismissively: "When I authorized and supervised in my Behemoths being designed, I well, took inspiration from a design concept I stumbled across when skimming some publically restricted advanced weapons files in the KI, or technically the Alliance."

"So what you're saying is that those things are based off the same concept you based your own things on?" Asked Quirinth, realizing that these designs had been around for a while.

"Basically yes, but it looks like they decided to make theirs much bigger."

Rounding a corner, they saw a small open plateau area, exposed, but there was no sign of enemy contact. Running ahead, Alex beckoned for them to quickly follow as he sprinted across the plateau to the forest on the other side.

Firi'sry saw it, a brief flash of movement, and Quirinth saw it too, the figure too well hidden when stationary. It was a twig snap that spared Alex from a worse blow.

Hearing the sound of a running body, Alex whipped around to face his attacker, and brought his fist around to punch them. Before he landed a punch, the wind was nearly driven from him as the human sized figure tackled him, and stunningly, a hand caught his metal fist, but was only strong enough to prevent Alex from opening his fist or freeing it, no worse.

Rolling on the ground, Alex briefly pinned his attacker, and saw Ma'lekri's face contorted with effort, his remarkably human like face covered in sweat, and some of his green blood seeped from a small gash he had received in the tumble. Grunting, the Vulcan demonstrated further his naturally gravity strengthened physique of his race, as he plated a foot into Alex's abdomen and launched the cybernetic human off him, sending the human landing painfully and stumbling to a standing position 3 metres away.

"You're not leaving this moon until we have that data! It is imperative that I deliver it, UIP security depends on it!" Ma'lekri demanded, launching forwards, punching in quick thrusting jabs, which Alex quickly dodged and countered each time. Stunned, he found that Ma'lekri's Vulcan physique and armour helped protect him from Alex's melee attacks, and Alex had no blade weapons on hand with his dark matter disabled for now.

"What did they tell you about it? What use is it to your superiors?" Alex asked, sarcastically wishing to hear another of Zoran's lies. Ma'lekri sideswiped Alex in the hip as the human spoke, sending Alex spinning away in pain, as the punch had landed on the organic section of his hip area, just above the pelvic bone.

"That data holds key weaknesses to the Dreadnoughts! We get that data, we can stand a chance of stopping these attacks! Now surrender the data!" Pulling out a heavy pistol, Ma'lekri fired downwards, hoping to hit Alex's legs to incapacitate, as the data in his head was useless if he was dead.

Adrenaline increasing his reaction time with his synthetic enhancements, Alex leapt to the side, deploying his wrist's particle blaster, akin to an assault rifle. Spinning to fire, Alex sent a string of particle bolts at Ma'lekri, who had reacted quickly, diving low to avoid the shots, while closing in. As Alex began to backstep, Ma'lekri swung upwards, knocking the human's metal hand and arm upwards. Alex swung his other arm around, extending his metal fingers slightly into claws, but Ma'lekri ducked low, punching Alex in the gut hard, then tackling the human hard, driving them back into the centre of the plateau opening.

Rolling over, Alex heard one of the two running towards them, and as he grappled with Ma'lekri, the Vulcan grunted as he headbutted Alex, who had been foolish not to extend his helmet frame. Crying aloud, Alex stumbled backwards, briefly clutching his forehead. Then Ma'lekri swung his leg, but not towards Alex.

Firi'sry had charged in from the side, her sword sized knife extended as she swiped at the Vulcan. Having gone low before the kick, Ma'lekri's foot found its mark, hitting Firi'sry square in the lower leg. With his strength, Firi'sry yelled in pain, wincing and slowing slightly as the kick hit her leg. That moment was what gave Ma'lekri his chance.

Leaping up, Ma'lekri was in the air a foot or so, just high enough to reach the small of Firi'sry's back as she was briefly subdued by the pain his fierce kick had done. Even as Firi'sry spun to stab Ma'lekri, his elbow was already driving down, and with her turn, it crashed into the side of her ribcage, his head ducking beneath her upper arm as she spun.

Feeling her rib crack slightly under the force of the blow, with Ma'lekri's Vulcan strength aided by an exo-suit under his clothing, Firi'sry rolled away, clutching her side in pain. As she rolled, a particle shot hit the ground centimetres from her hand as it lay on the ground, forcing Firi'sry to scramble backwards, closer and closer to a cliff edge. Ma'lekri drove her back, readying a shot to the ankle.

He pulled the trigger, the particle bolt tearing into her skin, and Firi'sry screamed as the bolt tore into her skin, and in fact tore out the other side, luckily only fracturing the bone due to its impact on a side of her ankle. Falling to the ground, Firi'sry suddenly was aware of how close to the cliff edge she was, her other leg having gone over the edge as she fell. Gripping onto the cliff top with one hand, her other holding her ankle to try and quell the pain, Firi'sry snarled in anger as Ma'lekri started towards her, his pistol trained on the ground near her.

A sudden impact from behind him knocked the pistol from his grip, and Ma'lekri found himself being floored by Quirinth, one of his own agents he commanded. Picking himself up, Ma'lekri withdrew another pistol, pointing it at Firi'sry, the more dangerous target despite her just gripping onto the cliff edge, while he calmly spoke to Quirinth as he gasped for breath: "Quirinth, assaulting your commanding officer is a court martial offense. Would you explain why you decided to attack me when I was merely subduing our target and anyone affiliated with him?"

"I don't care about Alex being the target, but you leave her alone!"

"She attacked me, tried to assist the target. I am merely removing her from the situation." Ma'lekri stated, as if it were obvious. Quirinth pulled out her own weapon, a machine pistol, a more military grade weapon, and also unfolded her armour weapon, a shoulder mounted heavy particle shot weapon with a laser sight. As the laser sight trembled on his forehead, Ma'lekri insisted: "Retract your weapons, or you will face a charge of treason."

Quirinth said nothing, but charged her weapons, the hum of them penetrating the tense silence, even over the sounds of the aerospace craft overhead and the few rainforest animal sounds echoing in the plateau clearing. Off to the side, Alex withdrew his other wrist weapon, his particle cannon, with either long range precision fire or short range spray shot fire. His heavy weapons remained offline, and he glanced respectfully at Quirinth, and was about to head towards Firi'sry to help her, until he heard another person emerge into the clearing. The yellow and sickly green scales, the emotionless expression, and the raising heavy particle rifle and grenade launcher, all this in a few fractions of a second.

It was all Alex needed to begin his flight startup, and running with all speed towards the cliff edge. As he ran, two shots sounded, each a second apart. He was lucky with the second shot.

The first particle shot hit Ma'lekri fully on the torso, blowing the Vulcan off his feet, fracturing multiple ribs and burning the skin from the burns from the electrical charge carried in the charged particle bolt. Letting out a bellow of pain, Ma'lekri was blow backwards, his body, just barely alive, stopping on the cliff edge. Wheezing, Ma'lekri's sight, waning as it was, saw the second particle bolt had missed its target, barely.

Quirinth watched with mixed tension and relief as the second bolt tore into Alex's left arm, having been intended for his torso. His split second choice to begin flying to safety saved his life. The particle bolt tore into his mechanical arm's armour plating, scorching it and denting it. Alex had just started his turbofan pack, and as the force of the bolt hit his arm, he had roared to life, but more fell off the edge of the cliff, using the cliff edge as cover. The waning sound of the turbofan was what signalled his flight from battle.

"Humans, such cowards and weaklings. I'll be glad to subjugate them and the other races to their rightful places. I suppose the two wounded creatures here should be put out of their misery." Turning to the new voice, Quirinth recoiled in horror as she saw Kal'sik level his grenade launcher at the cliff edge, and fire off a single round.

The cliff edge exploded, and crumbled. Ma'lekri had been too wounded, and was killed by the blast before the fall took him. Quirinht saw Firi'sry react, as the elder Na'vi female had pushed herself off the cliff edge just as Kal'sik fired the round. But the cliff had collapsed, and even over the rumble of the collapsing cliff, Quirinth had hoped to at last hear a continuing scream of pain to signify her survival.

Whirling to face Kal'sik, Quirinth fired off a bolt from her shoulder cannon. The heavy round impacted with the kinetic shields of the heavy unit, disguised as the Kro'nogri monster. A mild scowl on his face, Kal'sik extended his hand, and the cold, invisible grasp of a dark matter user took Quirinth by force, her body rushing to Kal'sik's, her throat in his clenched hand in a matter of seconds.

"Such courage, even in the face of insurmountable odds. I see that sparing your race from a mass culling as my contact pleaded might actually be useful. But I must leave you with a reminder."

Slamming Quirinth to the ground, the heavy mech put a single plated foot on her hand, and pressed its full weight onto it gradually. Quirinth screamed for the world to hear, as the sheer weight began to near fracture the bones in her hand. Then, the pressure stopped increasing, as a metal hand roughly grasped one of her mandibles to draw her head to look him in the eyes.

"You never cross the Alliance, and me, and walk away unpunished." Kal'sik grabbed the end of the mandible between two metal servos, and bent and pulled hard. Tissues tore, blood began to seep extensively, and as half of one her lower mandibles was torn from the end of itself, Quirinth's bloodcurdling screech sounded across the rainforest.

Dropping the mandible half beside the still screaming Predator female, Kal'sik paced over to the collapsed cliff edge, noting the absence of either the Vulcan he shot or the Na'vi shot before he arrived.

Gazing out, he saw his Fortress was drawing nearer, now within 10 kilometres from here. Overhead in orbit, the UIP defence fleet and their reinforcements continually hammered the Dreadnought and its fleet, but despite their tactics and size holding them back, the Dreadnought fleet was within range of Keletari.

Over the FTL comm channel, Kal'sik was actually in the Frosian system, aboard his personal dreadnought, leading the assault with his simultaneous tasking by his AI interface.

He issued the command, and the Dreadnought fired the first shot.

**Alpha Centuari, Polyphemus orbit.**

The dreadnought opened fire, the first round firing towards one of the smaller cities, an industrial spaceport on the moon of Keletari. A 2 megaton equivalent blast, or 100 grams of antimatter annihilating all at once on detonation.

The UIP fleet crews that could spare a glance at the moon only saw the faint twinkle as the round detonated planetside, the conversion of matter and antimatter into photons of light, and the centre of the city was consumed in a sphere of destruction.

No one spoke, and despite evacuations, the estimates already came in, of roughly 20,000 dead from that strike alone. A small loss compared to what could be in store if they lost their resolve to fight back now.

**Alpha Centuari, Pandora, Kahtra'ya clan.**

On the clifftop, Quirinth gasped for air, having gotten over the initial pain of her mandible being torn in half. Struggling, she cupped her hand to her scaly face, gently covering the end of the mandible as softly as she could.

For a Predator, the mandibles were nearly as sensitive as human lips were, and Kal'sik had just perform the most heinous sort of injury that one could administer to a Predator. Luckily, despite the pain, the bleeding was stopping gradually, and she had no chance of bleeding to death. Qurinth's hands were a different story, as it was her only unharmed hand that held the mandible end.

Gasping aloud, Quirinth picked up her lost mandible segment, wincing as her hand had to come away from her severed mandible half. Luckily she held a standard agent kit, and one treatment would do for now until she got to a proper medical capsule kit. Bearing the pain as much as she could, Quirinth gasped aloud a few times as she took a cryogenic sample capsule out. The capsule was meant to preserve specifically biological samples for study or forensics later, and of their team of UIP agents she was one of the ones assigned to carry such standard issue equipment. It was like a cruel twist that such technology would help preserve her mandible.

Dropping it in, Quirinth sealed and activated the capsule, watching as the facial piece was flash frozen in the near transparent capsule, no bigger than a glasses case, and a near perfect cylindrical shape. As long as she kept it under ice, she could have it reattached later. As sensitive as Predator mandibles were, they were more durable than pure mammalian body parts, and with their cartilage structure, and thin bones, could be reattached like a finger could be, just more carefully.

That problem solved, Quirinth took out a sterilization patch, and plastered the bleeding end of her severed mandible, screeching as the sterilization liquid in the patch healed the wound. Anaesthetic from the same patch liquid stopped most of the pain, and now Quirinth was ready to go without worrying about her mandible. Pocketing the frozen mandible capsule, Quirinth set about heading to the cliff edge, checking her hand as she went.

_No bone fractures or breaks, just some bruising, and a lot of pain._

Seeing her hand was really alright, Quirinth saw the sight below the cliff, her heart stopping briefly. She saw Ma'lekri far below on a rocky ledge, his body bludgeoned beaten among a pile of coastal rocks, the waves crashing just 6 feet below him. It was high tide now, so the body would be there until recovered. But Quirinth hated how he had to die, he was just dedicated to his mission, and Quirinth could understand that, but in the face of nearly killing Firi'sry himself, Quirinth held little respect for the Vulcan, just pity. No one also deserved to die the way Kal'sik had done it.

As Quirinth looked for any telltale signs of Firi'sry, she heard a somewhat familiar shriek of a Banshee, and sure enough, a Mountain Banshee was flying towards the cliff, a section about halfway down the total height of it. The creature flapped for a bit, before seeming to crawl into an open space in the rocks.

Desperate, Quirinth shouted: "FIRI'SRY! FIRI'SRY! HE'S GONE! KAL'SIK IS GONE!"

A minute passed, and with a release of breath, Quirinth saw the Mountain Banshee fly out of the cliff, out of what now was revealed to be a small opening and outcropping. Flying up to the cliff edge, the Banshee landed about 10 metres away, and gently lowered itself to the floor.

Running over, Quirinth slowed down as the Mountain Banshee screeched at her, baring its enormous mouthful of teeth at the female Predator. A croaking voice of indiscernible words sounded from beneath one of the Banshee's wings, causing it to settle down and step aside slightly. Sheltered beneath the wings of her Ikran, disconnecting her queue with what little strength she had, Firi'sry propped her head against Su'krala's body, the Banshee's heavy breathing comforting to the wounded Na'vi woman.

Having told Su'krala to let Quirinth in, Firi'sry looked down gratefully as Quirinth set to work bandaging her ankle, the particle shot having punched a clean hole in her ankle. A quick application of medical gel on both sides of the ankle, and a wrapping of bandages, and Quirinth was done with the ankle. Looking up at the Na'vi, she asked: "Where else are you hurt?"

"My rib, the one Ma'lekri cracked. I think it broke when I fell and landed. AH!" Wincing as her breathing moved the broken rib, Firi'sry pulled herself up to straighten her ribcage, as Quirinth saw that one rib was indeed looking different to its counterparts. Pulling out a medical kit, she set to work, commenting: "Good thing I paid attention to your daughter when she worked on others in the field."

Nodding in agreement, Firi'sry asked as Quirinth dressed her broken rib section: "Where is Kal'sik? And Alex?"

"Alex managed to escape, probably to warn the others with him. Kal'sik can't fly, but he went off in the same direction, either to the village or the bottom of the cliffs. Whatever happened, we can't stay here, that Frigate of theirs is the only way out of here we have left."

Gasping as another wave of pain took over, Firi'sry asked: "What about those things attacking the planet?"

"The other clans might get lucky, Kal'sik only seems to be targeting the colony cities, not the clans. Not including this one of course." Quirinth noted. A loud explosion sounded overhead as a missile missed its mark and detonated as a failsafe, while Aru'san flew in a chase with one of the fighters and assault gunships.

Firi'sry prayed aloud as she witnessed the growing destruction before her: "May Eywa help them all."

Quirinth asked with a morbid tone: "I hate to say it, but I think the only way Eywa could help them is by helping them find peace in death."

"I wish I couldn't say the same child." Firi'sry commented, as the Fortress drew nearer, and the faint flashes of light in the space between Pandora and Keletari penetrated even the daylight sky.

**Sorry this chapter's late, I had a lot of exam work and a school trip.**

**Anyway, I'm pleased with how its turning out so far, and with less exams to worry about, I can focus more on getting this story out of my head and onto these pages.**

**By the way, I would really appreciate it if anyone could leave a review for this story so far, because I could at least use some form of feedback to go on. I'm not asking for much, just at least something.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 19: Ashes of death part 2.**

**25th September 2901**

**Alpha Centuari, Pandora lower atmosphere, Dawnbreaker.**

"Get us in quick and low, we don't want to make ourselves a target!" Yelled the acting captain, a hardened female Kro'nogri officer. The frigate was still a few minutes out, flying at just under 1000 feet, deliberately at a slower speed to not be spotted. If they were spotted, they could be targeted by the Fortress's long range weapons before they could get one in themselves.

"We're 8 minutes out from short range targeting of our weapons. We're undetected." Responded a bridge officer. Nodding in acknowledgement, the XO commanded: "Have the medical bay ready for anyone and any possible case, we don't know what sort of shape they'll be in, but we know they're alive. Once we're in range, we need to find them."

Turning to walk off the captain's chair podium, she walked to a pair of security guards, and told them: "When the soldiers we're carrying deploy, open the secondary cargo bay ventral doors as we fly in to drop off the troops, and let Zirleth out. We'll use her tracking skills and power to blow through the Alliance forces, and find Kirth, and hopefully the others."

"Yes Ma'am." The two guards saluted, and immediately headed off to the elevators, to take up position.

Outside, the frigate flew in, visually cloaked from view, but flying at a mere 600 miles an hour, still 100 miles from the Kahtra'ya clan site, and 90 miles from the range of firing weapons so that they could avoid the worst of the Fortress's weapons fire.

**Kahtra'ya clan**

"Here! This is a suitable extraction point for the Dawnbreaker!" Yelled La'kias, as they ran through the now deserted village. The village was shrouded in smoke from the sections destroyed in the single 'warning' shot from the Fortress.

On the map functions on the data tools of each person appeared a locator beacon of the pickup location, a few miles further north, along the coastal cliffs. As the groups had split up, it was Azula who responded over the radio: **"That is in the middle of a lava river!"**

"A non-active lava river, with a nearly 100 metre wide span of solidified lava crust. By the time we get there the Dawnbreaker will be able to provide cover fire from the enemies." Kirth responded, as he ran alongside La'kias. He and La'kias had gone into a three with Azula, taking it upon themselves to escort the injured firebender. Although, she could still fight, though one handed with fire or weapons made her vulnerable. Xale had only agreed because Kirth and La'kias were skilled in many weapons training, despite both being disabled of their dark matter.

Running through the village, Kirth suddenly stopped, seeing movement ahead of them, and gestured for them to duck into a supply hut, partially on fire still. He gestured to Azula to make the fire as large as possible, but to control it so it did not harm them. Kirth knew that the Alliance forces were using heat seeking tech in their visors, so the fire would disguise their own signals.

Ahead, a platoon of 2 Kro'nogri troops and a large heavy attack mech unit pounded through the village. They looked down one section, noting how some of the buildings were still burning from the shell attack, mainly one of the larger huts.

One of them called in the all clear, no enemies sighted, and for all others to search other areas. With that, they walked off, searching the more undamaged areas of the village.

Inside the hut, Azula almost effortlessly maintained the veil of burning fire on the but rooftop. Looking at the other two, she hissed at Kirth over the loud crackling of the flames she was controlling: "What now? They will advance ahead of us for sure!"

Looking around, Kirth spotted a familiar supply hut nearby, and looking behind, his breath caught in relief and inspiration, as he saw the custom made explosive powder in pots behind them.

La'kias saw it too, and commented: "We're lucky those hadn't gone off while we were here." An idea blooming in his mind, Kirth suggested: "A pity, if it did go off the Alliance would surely come to investigate it for our activity."

Azula saw a plan forming, and La'kias realized it also. The firebender asked: "How much powder can we set off?"

Pointing to the huts, Kirth suggested: "Our charge grenades have a detonation signal setting on them. If we place one grenade inside a large pot of powder in each hut, and detonate them all in succession, it should blow up each hut entirely with the rest of the powder detonating. In the chaos and the Alliance swarming to investigate, we slip away and make our way to the pick up point."

La'kias pulled out some grenades, commenting as he peeked out of the hut doorway: "We best work our way out, plant one here, leapfrog our way from hut to hut as we plant them."

Taking one grenade, Kirth switched the small electronic dial on it to signal activation, and opened one of the pots of explosive powder, dropping the grenade inside, and putting the lid back on. Azula looked outside, and noted aloud as the figure flew in to land about half a kilometre away at least: "I believe Alex has split off from his group."

Just as they got up to sprint to the next hut, a frantic radio call came in, and they heard it as they slipped into the next hut to place the next charge:

"**Kal'sik is on the field! Kal'sik is on the field! UIP members Firi'sry, Quirinth and Ma'lekri presumed dead! Do not engage Kal'sik, he's too strong. Repeat, do not engage Kal'sik!"**

The communication cut off abruptly, and La'kias found a new sense of urgency: "We have to hurry, the Fortress is getting nearer, and we can't risk Kal'sik getting to the others."

The sounds of gunfire sounded in the distance, and it sounded like one other group had already run afoul of another Alliance group.

It had been an ambush, just as they thought they were in the clear.

Along the cliff edges, surrounded by rainforest growth and coastal ferns, it seemed like the enemy could not find them. But the Alliance troops were persistent, and as Xale cut down another Leg'hrul trooper trying to shoot his comrades, he felt an overwhelming sense of anger, a familiar rage in battle returning to him once more.

Away from him, he saw an awe inspiring sight as in the distance, obscured by some larger trees and rocks, Trion blasting away at any Alliance troopers coming near him, knocking down trees in his way, a blur of silver metal in the slowly collapsing rainforest area.

Right beside him, as she vowed personally that she would be was Sru'sky. Taking the head of a Leg'hrul agent in her hand, she smashed it into a nearby rock face, the crunch of the skull collapsing on itself a reminder that she still lived. Spinning around, she saw more troopers approaching, and fired her rifle at the Kro'nogri troopers trying to fire at her through the brush and tress.

A few stray shots overloaded her shields, but their inaccuracy in a dense environment meant her armour received only glancing blows from the particle beam shots. Her rifle skills were much more accurate, being derived from her teenage years of practicing with a bow, hunting in the Pandoran rainforests thicker than those here. On her home planet, she was in her element.

And with Trion by her side, the pair of them faced only marginal trouble. Alongside them was Lanver Kones, the dark skinned human weaving in and out between cover, many times it being Trion's legs as the mech moved, and fired his assault rifle with wild, but adrenaline fuelled accuracy.

It was Sru'sky who saw the sight, as the few troopers engaging Xale and Lexa fought against the clones, who were still formidable even without dark matter to make them the warmongers they often were. A very tall mech platform, about 7 feet tall, and an appearing holographic frame over itself, of a yellow and sickly green scaled Kro'nogri, with a dark coating growing on his fists.

"Kal'sik!" Sru'sky screamed. Her scream did not reach Xale and Lexa though, as gunfire from around Sru'sky drowned it out to them. Trion had heard it, as did Lanver, and sparing as many glances as possible, saw the mech descend on the clones. At the same time, all three fought their way back, all of them hoping to whatever they put faith in that they would not be too late.

Lexa had just fired off another round to a Kro'nogri trooper's head, while Xale impaled a mech trooper in the back, when the sound of what sounded like rushing wind reached her ears.

A moment later, and Lexa felt something slam into her side, her body giving a very brief spasm as something shocked her system. Crying out as the electrical current arced through her body, and the impact dented her side torso armour, Lexa went flying, her arm and shoulder catching on a nearby tree trunk as she was thrown 2 metres by the blow. With a scream from the impact, she fell to the jungle floor, dirt and ferns coating her armoured body as she rolled to a stop, winded and almost immobilized, her left arm now dislocated.

From behind her, Xale whipped around with his sword to face her assaulter, and saw a 7 foot tall armoured mech unit, with Kal'sik's body over it, seeming to flex its fists, dark matter arcing as it retracted from strengthening the blow, and electrical flashes coating the knuckles and fingers of the fist.

"Electro-gauntlets, with some dark matter boosts, in case your less capable mind is unaware of such technology, clone." Commented the robotic avatar. Snarling, Xale took his stance, ready to pounce: "You'll pay for that cheap attack you bastard."

"Such an ironic insult, considering that your origins in a test tube mean you were born without bonded parents. You were created by orders of the Alliance, consider this your retraction from service." Offered Kal'sik.

Bellowing, Xale charged in, firing his wrist rifle with the urge to blow Kal'sik's head off. His shields absorbing the blast, Kal'sik raised his heavy rifle, and pulled the trigger to fire. Leaping sideways, Xale dodged the burst of fire, and swung his blade, plasma layer shining, at Kal'sik's torso.

Back-stepping, Kal'sik's robotic avatar swung a fist at Xale's head, which the clone ducked quickly, sword hitting the fist to also deflect it, sparks flying as the electro gauntlet hit the plasma coating. If not for the electric current, the plasma coating would have done far more damage to the fist.

As Xale swung again with a blade, Kal'sik blocked with a fist, and as Kal'sik fired a burst, Xale would knock the rifle in a different direction of dodge the burst. Back and forth the blows went, but what Xale failed to spot was that Kal'sik was waiting for Xale to begin to grow tired. Even with an exosuit, any organic species began to grow tired.

As Kal'sik saw Xale's face trailing sweat, he took his opportunity. Swinging a fist, Kal'sik saw Xale backstep and duck, as he expected. Xale then fired his rifle at point blank range, the impact causing Kal'sik's shields to fail briefly, as Xale managed to stab his blade into Kal'sik's lower left torso. A small stream of conducting fluid began to leak, quickly stopped by a section seal.

As Xale retracted his blade from the now rigid Kal'sik, the Kro'nogri made his move.

A cold, black smoking tentacle wrapped around Xale, securing him in place firmly, the clone grunting and yelling as he tried to break free. Kal'sik sniffed disdainfully at the human clone, and raised a fist, unfolding it into its talons. His other fist remained an electrified fist, but the talons slashed down first. Xale pulled his head back as far as it would go, his salvation as it would appear.

An agonized yell sounded as Kal'sik's claw swiped across Xale's right face, 2 of the talons raking the skin deeply, and one of them hitting his eye. Blood and vitrous fluid seeped out of the eye now, and Xale knew that he had lost that eye.

Not reacting to the missed swipe, Kal'sik smashed his other first, still electrified, into Xale's side, relinquishing the dark matter grip the moment he was about to land the hit. With a dull crunch, the fist impacted the clone, rolling him across the ground, crashing into the base of a nearby tree with reasonable force.

The male clone was silent now, weakened, 2 more of his ribs broken, likely some internal bleeding, and his hand weakly trying to cap over his eye to stop the leaking. He was half blind, nearly broken, and the sounds of metallic footsteps on ferns signalled his coming death.

But it never came, as Kal'sik stumbled backwards as Lexa fired a heavy particle blast into his mech's shoulders with her only good arm, herself still on the ground, but sat upright. An electronic growl sounded from the mech as it turned to fire at the female clone, but a rain of particle fire drilled into his mech's back as Sru'sky and Lanver turned weapons on him.

Turning to face the UIP attackers, Kal'sik saw the last thing this mech would experience before it went offline, and his connection was lost. A fusion cannon blast heading for his upper torso. The purple energy blast blasted the mech apart, parts flying, the main mech smashing into a far away tree trunk, melted and ruined, and completely useless.

Trion's facial plates gave a smirk, as his fusion cannon cooled off. His sense of victory wavered as Sru'sky ran over to Xale, who still clutched his eye in agony. Lanver rushed over to Lexa, who gave a scream of pain as her dislocated arm was moved. He yelled over to Sru'sky, who had already administered a local anaesthetic to the deeply scratched skin on Xale's face, also treating the eye for pain. A sterilized medicinal patch and wrap was quickly used to plug the now anaesthetized, ruined eye. Sru'sky quickly opened up Xale's armour, careful not to move him too much. She saw instantly that 2 more ribs were broken, although the one Ma'lekri cracked earlier with a cheap kick shot had somehow survived. Her medical body scan from her data tool showed only some large bruising, but no bad internal bleeding.

Offering a quick word of reassurance, Sru'sky ran over to Lexa, who grunted out as the Na'vi knelt in front of her: "Ah! It's just my arm, dislocated. No cracks as far as I can tell."

Applying a quick anaesthetic shot to the shoulder joint, and waiting a few moments, Sru'sky gripped Lexa's upper arm, saying: "This shouldn't hurt too much, but brace yourself." Nodding, Lexa scrunched her eyes, as Sru'sky pulled and realigned the arm quickly, feeling it pull back into place again. Lexa gave a loud grunt of pain, though it hurt less than she feared it would.

Looking around, Lanver announced: "We have to keep moving, get to the pick up area!" Trion knelt down, and scooped Xale into his hand, the male clone groaning in pain, his one eyed vision wavering from shock after his wounds. Sru'sky ran alongside Trion, and although she knew Trion could often scan Xale's body, she needed to be there if anything else went wrong.

Close behind, Lexa continually told Lanver as he half dragged her by her good arm: "I'm alright, its just my arm!"

Not as far ahead as Trion, Sru'sky, Lanver, Xale and Lexa were was another group, who were caught in a fire fight with some Alliance troopers in a small canyon. Norstith and Ja'hail fired on the alliance troopers, 4 Kro'nogri and 2 Leg'hrul. They were lucky, as none of the troopers recognized Norstith's metallic body without its dark matter disguise layer. And none of them recognized Ja'hail either. They appeared to only be 2 assisting NKI troopers.

Norsith ducked behind another rock outcropping, charging the rifle that Ja'hail had leant him to full power. The robotic bodied Leg'hrul was lucky Ja'hail carried many different weapons, including 2 rifles. The rifle Norstith was using was a sniper class rifle, but with his robotically enhanced physical abilities, Norsitth found little difficulty in picking off some of the Alliance troopers.

Ducking out of cover, Norstith pulled the trigger, firing a 3 shot burst towards his target. The particle rounds, coated in a high energy disruptor field, would overload any energy or particle shields the Alliance troopers had. One Kro'nogri stumbled backwards out of cover as her shields overloaded.

A pair of shots from Ja'hail's rifle, Hilda, ended that same trooper.

Ducking back into cover, Ja'hail yelled to Norstith: "They're blocking our path! We need them gone to get to the pick up point!" Little did the Kro'nogri mercenary know that a certain AI had been listening in on conversations between NKI members. Aru'san's voice responded in quick time:

"Allow me to clear the way, while I have some time before the fighters begin firing on me again!"

Above, the draconian AI dove towards the cliff edge, training her targeting systems to designate the 5 troopers attacking Ja'hail and Norstith. Flying overhead, de-cloaking only for a few moments, Aru'san deployed a small missile from her weapons compartment, blending perfectly with her synthetic tissue and the torso area of her frame. The missile was 2 metres long, and streaked away from the cloaking draconic AI, making a quick heading for the 5 firing troopers.

As Norstith sheltered, he heard a loud roar, not quite supersonic, but then a loud explosion rocked the canyon. Quickly peeking out, he saw a cloud of smoke and dust, along with a pile of rocks and rubble, and mangled Alliance trooper bodies. Seeing the way was clear, he called to Ja'hail: "Come on! We can go now. Its good we can rely on Aru'san."

Running to catch the Leg'hrul, Ja'hail slowed as he saw a Kro'nogri alliance trooper crawling to his rifle. Walking briskly over, Ja'hail fired a shot into the crawling Kro'nogri's head, while taking his weapon himself, a modified plasma assault rifle.

"You won't need this." He said, his voice devoid of emotion, just stating a fact.

Catching up, Ja'hail glanced back, making sure they were not being followed, and ran to catch up with Norstith.

"Last grenade, then we run." La'kias said, as he sealed the last jar of explosive powder, in the hut nearest the edge of the village. Kirth nodded, and set the detonate command to his wrist display functions.

Leading them out, Kirth drew them into the rainforest, far enough away for them to avoid a confrontation with any Alliance soldiers looking for them. Seeing the opportunity, Azula said to Kirth: "Do it, then we run."

Kirth engaged the detonate signal, and pressed his wrist button.

The explosions set off in a series, working their way in towards the centre of the village. A half dozen of them in total, each with a 100 pound bomb worth of force, flattening other huts around them and echoing the blasts for miles around. The huts were blown apart, obliterated by the relatively small explosions. Though their main purpose was for distraction,

Echoing through the forests and cliffs, the NKI and UIP people continued to run, but the Alliance people turned their attention to the explosions for a few minutes, hearing reports of some of the Alliance patrols getting caught in the explosions, and in their panic, they assumed an ambush, and requested backup. Heeding their call, the majority of the Alliance forces rushed to the scene of the explosions.

Slipping through the throngs of incoming Alliance Leg'hrul, Kro'nogri and mech troopers, Azula, still injured with one arm, Kirth and La'kias stormed through the forests, making their way to the meeting point.

But they were unsuccessful in attracting the attention of every member of the Alliance forces.

Further north, just under a mile from the pick up point, and Sha'krii, Se'rie and Morthas had just reached the edge of the volcanic plains, coming out from the rainforest to emerge before a wide open area, the initial area covered in lava rivulets, gas vents and hazardous cracks in the terrain, with hot magma slowly seeping from them.

A hazardous no man's land, but it was the quickest way across. And with the sounds of pursuing Alliance mechs behind them, they didn't hesitate any moment more than needed.

Within a minute, Sha'krii was running across the volcanic landscape, firing back at the advancing Alliance mech troopers. Overhead, Se'rie and Morthas quickly soared on the hot air currents from the volcanic plain, firing pistol or rifle bursts with surprising accuracy at the mechs, scoring critical hits on many occasions.

Dropping down, Morthas landed between two mechs, and unfolding his wing front vibro-blade liners, he swept and cut at the armour of the mechs, cutting the strong metallic skeletons down to size with enough speed and force. Flapping to a higher height as the two mechs collapsed, Morthas fired off 4 plasma rounds into another Alliance mech trooper, scoring hits on the chest, arm and leg, slowing its speed of reaction down. As the mech span around to fire a plasma burst into Morthas's chest, a powerful particle rifle shot pierced its head, continuing through out of the other side of it.

Sha'krii focused on the other mechs as the one she saved Morthas from fell, and with skills honed in hunting alert and naturally aware animals in the wild during her exile, she fired off round after round into the heads of other mech units. Morthas was occupying the mechs with close quarters combat, while Se'rie sometimes took part in close fighting, but stayed afar and in constant motion, weaving in and out in the air, firing off bursts of pistol fire to prevent the machine troopers from getting a solid fix on her. Sha'krii used their confusion to pick them off one by one.

All this while advancing across the near solidified lava plains. But such victory would be short lived, as many often were in wars.

As the remaining handful of Alliance mech troopers began to slow down towards them, Sha'krii breathed a sigh of relief, her body surging with adrenaline, the heat from the volcanic surface heat driving her physical abilities to be faster and stronger. As she looked up to call for the other two to come lower down, she saw it. From the glare of one of the two suns overhead, away from Polyphemus's form overhead, a dark shape shot towards their area. And Morthas was in its intended path.

"KRITHOS! LOOK OUT!" She screamed, bringing her rifle to bear. As she brought her rifle round, she faltered, too late to save Morthas already, but hesitant at the sight of the new enemy.

Morthas flew in, hearing Sha'krii's shout, and as soon as he began to look around, he saw Se'rie's shared look of horror a few dozen metres away. The shadow descended upon him, and bringing a blade around to possibly block, Morthas braced himself.

A sound of clanging metal, and a dull crunch, and Morthas was driven from the air, a large servo holding his body, his wings trapped inside the grip, his sword spinning to the ground as the fist drove his own body towards it. Looking up at his attacker, Morthas saw the holographic layer, and the mild sneer of confidence that donned the yellow-green Kro'nogri's face.

The ground came flying to meet them, Morthas still tightly bound in Kal'sik's mech platform's metallic grip.

The ground cracked beneath them, fracturing from the impact point where Kal'sik's mech fist, Morthas still bound within, smashed into the ground, and where his two feet landed. The mech suit had been air dropped from a passing assault transport, using an antigravity generator to decrease its own mass, so it could more easily survive the impact of landing. That did not mean it stopped its momentum or the shockwave of landing. As it landed, when the shockwave of the 500 kilogram mech platform landing would have done fatal damage to Morthas's skeleton, the lessened mass, and momentum change on landing, did less damage. The wet crunching on landing signified that the damage reduction had not been enough to spare the former KI operative a very painful injury.

Initially there was no pain, but as soon as Kal'sik began to stand up on the ground, shifting Morthas in his grip ever so slightly, he screamed in agony. Morthas knew instantly that his right wing had been caught between his own torso and the ground side of Kal'sik's grip, and had been squashed in the impact. The hollow bones of the Leg'hrul made them more easy to wound by breaking bones, and even with the armour and training he had, the pain of a broken limb, or wing in this case, was not an easy thing to ever get used to. But the pain of a broken wing was merely a footnote compared to Kal'sik having him in his grasp.

Contracting his mech platform's grip, Kal'sik smiled through his FTL comm Hologram layer as Morthas began to yell in pain, trying desperately to grab a weapon on his utility belt as he was squeezed, his broken wing bending more and more as the mech's grip tightened. Gazing around, he scowled very slightly as he saw Sha'krii had fired off another shot from her sniper rifle, whipping round to meet the warlord's gaze as her last victim fell over, a clean hole in its head and CPU. Overhead, Kal'sik noticed the younger, female Leg'hrul had landed, and had unfolded two swords from her belt, twin plasma and vibro blades. She was Se'rie, apparently Norstith's niece by records, but by records also, she was the most novice of the NKI members here.

She was of less importance. Kal'sik had the most important and least important NKI members in his sight, and another of their leader comrades in his grip, just another burst of pressure away from crushing him.

Sha'krii gave Kal'sik a hard look, but snapped her head to see the Fortress, having finally reached into the rock stack field, now only a kilometre away from the coast, and the sounds of it firing incendiary rockets into the rainforest, and firing anti-fighter lasers at Aru'san, or where it thought she was, into the sky. Gazing back, at Kal'sik, Sha'krii raised her sniper rifle to aim at the mech platform's head, merely saying as the laser sight trembled on the platform's optics: "Are you proud of what you've unleashed on an innocent world? They have done nothing to you, and yet you slaughter them, and for what?"

"You and your pride Sha'krii, the same pride that drives you to deny the crime of killing your father and the prior King, when it is ever so clear that you are guilty." At Kal'sik's jibe, Sha'krii said nothing. She knew he thought she really did it, but she knew who had. Kal'sik would not believe her here, or likely ever, and she had gotten over trying to prove herself for now. Kal'sik continued: "By upgrading myself to become what I am now, I have gained a clearer understanding of the place of the Alliance races, and the UIP races, as a whole. The Alliance and UIP met first, and hostilities erupted. There is an underlying thirst for conflict, but like many times in history, there is continuous reluctance to wage wars of many calibres in the face of past atrocities and losses. I see now that if there is to ultimately ever be a peaceful cooperation between the Alliance and UIP ever, then both sides must see the horrors of total war. The Alliance already doubts these necessary strikes, and in the UIP, they're arrogance, which drove them to send those scouts to help orchestrate our previous Kro'nogri king's death, has been destroyed in the face of an equal military might, that is not afraid to pool its assets into concentrated weapons of destruction. The UIP struck first, and we retaliate with greater force. A vicious cycle, but one in which both sides eventually emerge wiser, humbler, and for my kind, the Alliance shall not see a threat from them again."

"That's how you justify the slaughter of millions of civilians? To subdue an enemy forever, by beating them to near death as an entire group of species? This cannot be the lengths the Alliance will go to in order to win the war." Sha'krii countered. Gripping Morthas slightly harder to emphasize his point, Kal'sik grinned, his sharp teeth bared against his sickly yellow and green scales, The sound of a distant explosion, as a larger missile razed another rainforest section to the ground, hoping to kill as many tribe members as possible, echoed as he made his last statement: "Such horrors of war ultimately seal a long term peace between two factions. I took it upon myself to wage such necessary horrors, particularly on worlds which showed resilience against my efforts previously. And for that, they will need to be 'addressed' before other important targets."

"New Cybertron. Shockwave." Se'rie breathed. She had figured out where Kal'sik planned to next attack. Turning to Se'rie, Kal'sik gave a simple comment: "Ah, so Sha'krii's least experienced member figured out one of my next targets? And Shockwave? He and I have some unfinished business anyway. I can, as the humans say, 'kill two birds with one stone'. In my case though, I have a certain traitor to her kind to kill first. But trust me when I say that breaking, one at a time, the bones of Norstith's niece, is something I look forward to."

Raising a built in wrist cannon, Kal'sik prepared to fire, his left hand gripping Morthas harder, making him yell in pain. Sha'krii fired first, her particle burst hitting Kal'sik just right of the optic, a damaging, but desperate shot. Kal'sik's cannon charged, and Sha'krii made to dive.

A plasma blade cut through the cannon, sending it dropping to the shattered volcanic ground. With his mech suit's right hand gone also, and conductive fluid slightly leaking, Kal'sik looked around to see Morthas, his good wing and hand free, stab his sword into the other weapon mount, on Kal'sik's mech's left arm. The plasma blade puncturing the armour, Morthas dropped to the ground, wing bent at a crooked angle, and he yelled over his pain: "Don't forget about this bird here!"

Stabbing again into Kal'sik's ankle, Morthas's attack was less effective on the heavy leg armour, but his hand slipped on an explosive charge, ready to detonate on a small area on a timer. Placing the charge, Morthas yelled as he rolled over to look at Sha'krii and Se'rie: "Run for it! Get out of here!"

Morthas saw it then, a rapidly flying shape approaching, human sized, in black armour and heading this way at high speed. Eyes closing, Morthas quickly smashed the charge engage function on his wrist, just as Kal'sik's metal foot smashed onto Morthas's leg, squashing it, blood rupturing, bones crushed, his leg gone beneath the metal weight.

Looking up at Sha'krii and Se'rie, Kal'sik said in an acidic tone: "This is what happens to those who oppose the Alliance, and me." Foot still on Morthas's leg, Kal'sik raised his other foot up, smashing it onto Morthas's left wing, flattening the already broken limb further. A few moments in which multiple voices all pleaded for an end. Sha'krii stood there, helpless, while Se'rie stumbled backwards, her swords drooping, as her legs became weak. She couldn't bear to see Morthas suffer like this, neither of them could. But the suffering would end quickly.

A few seconds, and Kal'sik's raised fist, the one that previously held Morthas in its grasp, swung down. Metal servos met Leg'hrul head feathers and skull. A wet crunch, and a crack as the fist impacted the volcanic surface below it, a faint orange glow of lava flowing a few feet beneath them, steadily growing more and more red in the moments that followed.

Drawing back up, Kal'sik inspected his mech's servo, flicking the Leg'hrul skull fragments and brain tissue off it. Looking at Sha'krii and Se'rie, Kal'sik took a step towards them, dark matter beginning to appear from his torso compartments of his mech platform.

"Your end is now. I hope your father can punish you when I give you a similar fate to your partner." Kal'sik said, his voice calm and collected. Behind him, Morthas's body, broken and flattened beyond recognition of the head, stained the volcanic floor red.

And Kal'sik was ready to move in on the Kro'nogri Princess and Norstith's niece.

**Finally, chapter 19 done, and there is one more chapter to the Pandora arc after this one.**

**Opinions? Please leave reviews if you wish to voice an opinion, or offer constructive critique of this story or chapter.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 20: Ashes of death part 3.**

**25th September 2901**

**Alpha Centuari, Kahtra'ya clan, northern volcanic plateau.**

Kal'sik advanced, Leg'hrul blood glistening from his platform's servo, dark matter coiling and slithering quickly towards Sha'krii and Se'rie. The two fired, and began to run in panic.

A single dark tendril shot towards Se'rie, and with a yell of fear and aggression, she slashed it in half with her sword, severing it. Stopped briefly, the tendril sprouted extra segments, and quickly reformed to the severed section. Gripping around Se'rie's ankle, the dark tendril tightened, and dragged her towards Kal'sik.

The tendril disintegrated, as a burst of heavy plasma fire hit Kal'sik's frame, Sha'krii pouncing on the mech's frame. Se'rie scrambled away, as Kal'sik turned on his feet, stumbling from the stabbed ankle joint by Morthas's last acts. Sha'krii continued to fire, her weapons heating up as she unloaded plasma bolts into Kal'sik's shields, continually retreating. Sha'krii yelled as a dark tendril, invisible, seized her arm, and knocked away her assault rifle. The cold extra limb enveloped her arm in a vice-grip, swinging her over onto her back, smashing the ground beneath them. Sha'krii was winded as she was slammed onto her back, and the volcanic top crust shattered like glass beneath her. Orange lava shone, but did not penetrate, as it flowed steadily in a shallow underground flow.

Kal'sik advanced, restraining Sha'krii with his dark tendril further, but not forgetting the other one behind him. Turning around, he shot out another dark tendril, and as Se'rie attempted to fly away, it gripped her leg, flinging her towards the robotic bodied warlord. As he saw his quarry come closer to his grasp, he saw a brief flash of light from the corner of his optics, and a discharged weapon alert.

In milliseconds, the robotic platform was blasted across the ground, as the tungsten railgun shell smashed into his frame, penetrating his ray and particle shields, and puncturing his torso armour. Damaged, but not down, Kal'sik got to his feet, and saw the black armoured human flying towards Kal'sik, firing another railgun shot, as well as firing his plasma rifle:

"Remember me!" Yelled Alex Hunter, his electronically broadcast voice laced with malice and hate. Evidently, the demise of his comrade, and a former allied KI operative, had an effect on him. Kal'sik stood up, and said coldly: "Your KI operative friend was a close companion to you I see. His suffering was fractional to what I intend to inflict upon you."

Advancing, Kal'sik inwardly scowled over his channel, as this platform had lost its weapons, and could only use dark matter or melee attacks. Luckily, all dark matter users were disabled temporarily. But he was no fool. He knew that his specific system targeting EMP burst was less effective the further away the target was when it hit. And Alex was one of two who had been further away. Regardless, he still seemed unaware of his less effected nature, and it looked as if the effects were still there.

Scanning his body quickly, Kal'sik noted a small obstruction in his leg, where Morthas had stabbed him before being crushed. It was likely a fragment of a blade, and didn't hinder his movement. This was also an irrelevant weakness, as he had another platform on route to fight, this one having followed Alex Hunter, and was fully combat ready.

Advancing, Kal'sik swung a dark tendril as Alex. The human, having experience with detecting dark matter by designed software and training, dodged and rolled, backtracking as he fired plasma bursts towards Kal'sik, not penetrating his shields with simple plasma fire. Finally, another break, and Alex fired a railgun shot, another tungsten shell, into Kal'sik's body.

The shell ripped through him at mach 7, hitting a few critical motor control systems, and severing several power cables to the servo electrodrivers and the shield generators. Kal'sik stumbled, but in his optics, he saw the location of the second platform he could command, and was satisfied. Looking up, he said as Sha'krii charged her rifle with Alex and Se'rie: "One down, three remain."

Plasma fire tore into the platform's body, overloading shields and melting the armour together, incinerating the platform beyond any function. Kal'sik's frame slumped over, beaten, in the middle of the lava crust plateau.

Beyond the plasma plateau, another approached, charging weapons and firing to clear the trees. Its approach was obvious.

Out at sea, the Fortress, under Kal'sik's semi command, turned its focus towards that lava plain, charging its long range antipersonnel cannons. Charging, it suddenly detected a fast approaching signal, one of high power levels.

Heavy laser fire tore into the Fortress's shields, and missile fire impacted the particle shields, the Fortress stumbling under the explosive power. Overhead, the Dawnbreaker flew in a fast path, 3000 feet up.

The 3 Alliance escort craft turned to pursue, the last gunship transport switching to long range missiles, while the two fighters flew in fast chase. From thin air, a stream of molten metal ripped the trailing fighter in half, as Aru'san dropped out of cloaking to destroy another fighter while it was distracted. Diving into the rocky stack field below, Aru'san cloaked again as the assault gunship tried to run its weapons on her.

As the Dawnbreaker flew off, its defence turrets fired on the fighter from afar, while from its belly hanger a single, fast stealth shuttle flew out, arcing towards the extraction point.

Breaking through the forest, Kirth, La'kias and Azula came to a small pathway, beaten by what seemed to be a large mech unit. Looking ahead, they saw one of Kal'sik's frames headed for the extraction point.

Then, a few loose rocks alerted them to Norstith and Ja'hail, working their way around the corner to their location. Ja'hail asked: "You got here alright? Good. We've got Sha'krii, Se'rie and Alex ahead there, and Kal'sik's going in for a second crack at them."

"I thought Morthas was with them?" Asked La'kias. Norstith looked down briefly, and said: "His life signs on his armour sow he's dead, likely Kal'sik killed him. With no dark matter to use against Kal'sik's dark matter, we're as weak as any other soldier."

"What of the others?" Asked La'kias. They began to work their way down toward Kal'sik, following his beaten trail. In the distance, the Fortress let out a long, metallic bellow as the Dawnbreaker let loose another barrage of rockets and laser fire.

"Alex is there, so we presume the rest of his group is gone, the Vulcan, the female Predator and elder Na'vi woman. The other UIP members are with Xale and Lexa, and their life signals show they're still alive, but both are registering injuries of some sort, but fine. They took a longer way round, so they won't be joining us for a fight against Kal'sik." Said Norstith. While Kirth, Azula and La'kias had been busy blowing up the village as a distraction, Norstith had taken it upon himself to check on the life signs of all of their members while he and Ja'hail advanced.

Looking out to sea, Ja'hail remarked: "That Fortress is being distracted, the Dawnbreaker's got its attention." Looking in the same direction, Azula noted pointedly: "But that distraction is leading it to head towards that lava plateau. A very fragile plateau I might add."

Kirth gripped his fist in frustration, analysing the situation. As he gripped, he saw something only seen by his eyes, dark smoke, curling between his fingers, and he felt it also. Relaxing, Kirth flexed his fingers, feeling the dark matter in his hand. With a flick of his arm, he concentrated, and aimed.

A dark matter arrow, like one fired from a crossbow, but thicker, embedded itself in the cliff face.

All attention focused on Kirth then, who said: "The effects seem to have worn off for me." Experimenting, La'kias tried, but alas, no dark matter. Yet again, Norstith attempted, and no dark matter once again. Questioningly, La'kias gestured for them to continue to head to assist the others as Kal'sik approached, and asked aloud: "Why is it only you can use dark matter, while the rest of us are still disabled from it?"

It took Norstith a few moments, but he deduced: "You mentioned Kal'sik used a powerful, coded EMP burst to somehow disrupt the psychokinetic neural implants and dark matter automotive signals inside itself? The only way I can see myself being less effected is by me being out of range much more when it was fired, when I was heading to assist Alex."

Realizing this, Azula looked over at the plateau in the distance, and remarked as they picked up the pace: "Perhaps an encounter with Kal'sik is less dangerous than it was before now."

Kirth saw the situation ahead suddenly worsen, as Kal'sik had cleared the forest boundary, and had reached the lava plateau. He ordered quickly: "Signal the Dawnbreaker that we are almost ready for pickup! I shall go on ahead and assist them! Regroup as quickly as possible!"

With Kirth's takeoff, the others picked up the pace.

The sight of Morthas's body was horrific to say the least.

When Alex had witnessed Mir'minsk be slaughtered, at least her body had been intact to make it look as if she was at peace. There had been a dignified, almost serene body to lay to rest. What had become of Morthas's body was indescribable emotionally.

Kneeling down to Morthas's crushed, flattened remains at the head and wing, Alex bowed his head, refusing to let any tears come forth. In fact, he did not feel the need to cry, he felt an empty sense of purpose. To ensure Morthas's sacrifice was not in vain, that they escaped with the data that could end the war.

Besides, they had another fight headed their way. There was no time for a lengthy farewell.

Se'rie came over, as Sha'krii also stepped towards the human, knelt low over the Leg'hrul. They listened as he spoke aloud, and more to himself: "Morthas was an honourable Leg'hrul, and one fine soldier. He knew the risks, and did what was needed to get the mission done. He was also a loyal companion."

Gazing over Morthas's remains, Alex remarked with bitter, quiet anger: "That is more than I can say for his killer." He took the rifle energy packs and grenades from Morthas's kit. Sha'krii asked: "What are you doing?"

"He's gone to a better place, whatever it is. He won't need these there. But we will, once Kal'sik comes back for us." Standing up, he handed out the grenades and rifle energy packs, along with some basic medical gel he had taken from the body also.

Se'rie took her supplies, and asked Alex carefully, as she saw the empty look in his eyes: "Alex, I'm, I'm sor-"

"Don't do that Se'rie. If you finish that sentence you will have to live with the guilt. Kal'sik was too strong, and Morthas saved your life and Sha'krii's possibly. If you want to avenge him, help me kill Kal'sik's next body. But-" Alex held out his hand, and said with some degree of sheepishness: "I can't use dark matter to make a blade, so I need to borrow one of your, formally my swords."

Nodding, Se'rie handed Alex one of the two blades he had given from him to her as a birthday present. As he took it, he felt the familiar handle in his grip, and extended the blade outwards to its full 3 foot length.

Overhead, a loud explosion drew their attention, as they all looked to see a large missile blast send strong ripples across the energy shields of the Fortress unit a half mile away. The Dawnbreaker circled, like a vulture ready to swoop in for its prey. In the distance, they also saw Aru'san take out the last Alliance fighter, before cloaking, though she had sustained some damage, as apparent by the slight decrease in turning speed as she avoided being locked on by the Fortress.

A sudden explosion then sounded from a half mile away, this one from ground level, and on their visual projected HUDs, they saw multiple friendly beacons approaching from the south and east, and one high powered, enemy signal, emerging from he forest.

Kal'sik stomped out, in a new, untouched frame. The same one that killed Ma'lekri, Firi'sry and presumably Quirinth. From his end of his FTL remote connection, he smiled, confident in this plan, but knowing he had others if this one went to pot. Besides, his razing of Pandora's and Keletari's larger settlements was going very productively, what was one minor failure of the loss of a very heavy infantry units?

Seeing the heavy infantry frame, controlled directly by an over projected Kal'sik, Alex remarked as he readied his weapons to Sha'krii: "No more toying, that thing is scrap."

Sha'krii couldn't agree more, as the prospect of fighting her brother's most powerful subject in mortal, shooting combat, was not an appealing one. Leaping to a nearby rocky stack for cover, Sha'krii saw Alex dive into one slightly further ahead, while Se'rie took up position near to Sha'krii.

Getting out her rifle, Sha'krii extended her rifle's barrel to maximum. Here was where her skills were best. While Alex engaged at closer quarters, Sha'krii could pick shots at Kal'sik's shields and frame, while Se'rie alternated between long and short range combat.

As Kal'sik's frame charged, unbeknownst to any of them, the Kro'nogri warlord made a move, his interconnectivity with his Fortress serving his plans.

Overhead, reeling from the explosion of another heavy missile, the Fortress stumbled on its crab like legs, the joints groaning as the weight reducing antigravity boosters had to divert power to the shields.

Taking control for a brief moment, Kal'sik took direct control of the Fortress for now, backtracking much more quickly, turning as the 300 metre tall war machine began its attack.

Stumbling under the explosive force of a volley of heavy railgun fire from the Dawnbreaker, the Fortress charged 2 of its primary weapons, a pair of concussion missile launchers, and fired. 2 streaks of white smoke arced through the now half kilometre gap between the pinned Fortress and the lava plateau area.

The missiles used concussive shockwaves to trigger concentrated, strong earthquakes, as well as a general explosion at closer range. The missiles could not have been launched at a worse place.

Kal'sik's frame slowed, and Sha'krii saw through her sniper scope the faintest grin cross Kal'sik's face on the holographic overlay of the heavy infantry unit.

The first missile hit 150 metres away, at the edge of the lava plateau. As the sound of the explosion hit them, the second missile smashed into the plateau crust also, hitting just 80 metres from them, on the coastal side of the plateau. Both shockwaves hit simultaneously, and Sha'krii braced herself, and felt the shockwave slam her into Se'rie, then back again from the other side.

The ground shook beneath them, longer than any normal explosion would make. Further in front, Alex had been knocked over, clambering up again, eyes briefly trained on the sate of the ground now.

The plateau had shattered into pieces.

The over crust, a layer of more temperature resistant rock over a layer of less resistant rock, not molten, had broken up, and in some areas, crumbled. Now the plateau had been broken into islands, perched just 1 metre atop a series of lava channels, some 2 metres wide in places. The edges of some crust 'islands' had sunken also, leaving a slope going into the slowly flowing lava.

Scrambling back from the edge of his island, Alex saw he had been isolated on a 9 metre wide segment of crust. Se'rie and Sha'krii were on the next section. Looking over, he suddenly saw that Kal'sik had vanished, a cloud of escaping smoke from the lava obscuring his view.

"**Sha'krii, Alex, Se'rie, we're on route to help! Kal'sik's cloaked himself, I saw it! Alex! The dark matter jamming is limited in range, the two of us can use it now!"**

Hearing the transmission from Kirth, Alex felt some reassurance of his chances. A crunch of some crust from behind him dimmed these hopes. Instinctively, Alex took his sword, and swung it around to the noise.

A large metal hand caught his arm, squeezing with deadly force. And the visor, the reptilian gaze in the holographic layer, piercing his own eyes. The voice: "Your defiance is admirable, but useless."

Behind him, Kal'sik brandished his other mechanical servo, and with his other hand, he threw Alex onto his back, the fragile crust of ground cracking very slightly as the human was slammed onto the ground, winded, but saved by his armour. A cold layer secured him to the ground, and Alex struggled to free himself from the dark matter bonds. Kal'sik's mind was more powerful than his own.

Bending over, Kal'sik dipped his servo into the lava, a thin energy shield layer allowing in just enough heat to heat up the servo fingers. Standing back up, Kal'sik spread his servo fingers, but stopped as a stray sniper shot hit his shields, an intended head shot. Despite the smoke, Kal'sik saw the shooter. Raising an arm, he fired a built in grenade launcher.

Over on another island, the rock cover Sha'krii had used was broken in half, as Sha'krii reeled away, a grenade fragment embedded in her hand now. Gasping, she saw Se'rie raise her rifle as something flew towards them through the building smoke.

Landing with a thunderous crunch on the crust, Kal'sik stomped towards Sha'krii, and quickly turned to Se'rie.

Se'rie's heart seemed to stop, as she saw the face of death looking at her, contemplating his next move.

How had she come this far, from a simple working career in an out of the way colony, trying to get away from the Alliance, being imprisoned in her colony to make her uncle work, to becoming a revolutionary, now facing the most hated, feared and destructive individual known in the galaxy? The path of events seemed to distant and forgotten to her, but the present was clear as crystal.

Desperately, she fired her rifle, pulling the trigger continuously sending burst after burst of plasma fire at Kal'sik. But to no avail. Even with his shields now knocked out briefly as they recharged from her shots and Sha'krii's head shot, his armour was too strong.

Shaking off the plasma marks on his head armour, it spoke. The voice, laced not with arrogance, but certainty, spoke to her just once: "Your uncle was a traitor, and a coward. And you were a foolish little bird to try and follow him to war against me and the true people of the Alliance." His words hid a building force, and as he finished, it literally slammed into Se'rie like a brick wall.

A dark matter attack, shaped like a pointed spur, slammed into her, the point smashing into her ribcage, the impact jarring and breaking 2 of her ribs, and cracking a 3rd. She felt fear, she felt pain, but no sound was emitted, no scream of pleading or agony, nor a yell of defiance.

Flying backwards, she felt herself flying, one last time, her eyes seeing the searing orange-red stream beneath her thrown form. Passing through the smoke, she smashed into the edge of one island edge, and as she fell into unconsciousness, she gave one last grasp of the edge, as she felt a searing heat begin to slowly engulf the edges of her left wing feather.

In the darkness, she felt nothing more, as she took to the sky, borne aloft by something she did not know, the smell of smoke disappearing, the heat suddenly vanishing.

Before Sha'krii registered Se'rie's loss, Kal'sik pinned her to the rock cover she had been using before to shoot him, a dark matter tendril smoking as it set her against the rock cover.

"Your rebellion will fall without you, but before I kill you, you will know true pain for your betrayal of the empire you were born to rule." Kal'sik said, raising his talons above his head. The servo came down, and grasped her face, the same servo he had stuck in the lava.

The burning was instantly felt, and Sha'krii screamed for the world to hear as the 4 servo fingers, of searing hot metal and ceramic layers, pressed harder into her face and forehead. For 10 seconds, she felt her face on fire, and struggling with all her might, she felt his servo relax slightly. But she was wrong.

With her face still stinging badly from the 4 sero finger burn mark, which would most likely scar, Kal'sik extended two of his servo joints to claws, and raked 2 long, parallel marks into the Kro'nogri princess's face, from the forehead, to just above her eye, the armoured head scales splitting and releasing blood from the torn tissue beneath them.

Pulling away, Kal'sik released Sha'krii from her dark prison, and she fell forwards, clutching her bleeding head, tears streaming from her eyes as the pain from the face burn and twin cuts mixed. He raised his arm cannon, charging the heavy plasma cannon for the kill.

All of a sudden, his mech frame was thrown into the air, smashed into by an unseen foe, and slammed into the crust of an island nearby, scrambling briefly as the side gave way under its weight. Snarling, Kal'sik turned around to see his attacker.

He saw Kirth, and a launched dark matter pulse, like a battering ram, coming right for him.

Raising his own dark matter defences, the Kro'nogri blocked most of the dark matter attack, only stumbling from the force of the blow after raising a dark wall. Preparing his own attack, he felt something hit his back. His shields were still down briefly, thanks to Sha'krii's and Se'rie's shooting, but it was enough time. His onboard sensors told the Kro'nogri enough in nanoseconds, that the grenade would do noticeable damage.

The explosion rocked the heavy infantry unit, sending him to the ground, on its front. Away, La'kias loaded another grenade into his grenade launcher, and charged in. Behind him, Ja'hail ordered to the others: "Norstith, come with me! Your important for the mission. Azula, how well can you firebend one handed?"

Looking out, Azula saw an entire lava ground for her to use, and said: "I can manage." Seeing her as fine, Norstith said: "We'll signal the Dawnbreaker to come in for us, and drop reinforcements in." Ja'hail pulled out the emergency beacon, and said: "You call them, call for the cheap robotic units Alex had brought aboard the Dawnbreaker."

Looking on scanners, Norstith saw other Alliance troopers were due in about 5 minutes from now, and said: "We could use Zirleth also!"

Standing up, Alex steadied himself, realizing all that he had just witnessed. He saw Kal'sik leap to the other island, and thrust Se'rie into the smoke. Where there was smoke, there was lava.

His metal grip squeezed the sword grip tight, the servo whining from the strain. His vision began to turn red, as red as the flowing lava around them, and with his other hand, he saw indeed the tendrils of dark matter now flowing from them. They formed into a blade, and hardened.

Looking over at another island nearby, Alex saw Kal'sik's previous frame, and knew there was dark matter there. His rage built, and the dark matter all but flew to his power.

Running fast, Alex powered his turbofan to maximum setting, and flew towards another island, with everything else minus the heavy infantry unit invisible to him.

Now leaping from island to island, Kal'sik blocked attacks, stepping backwards and forwards and sidestepping, as he fired off rounds in response, dark matter or heavy plasma cannon.

In front, Kirth utilized dark matter fully, forging copies of himself continuously, making them move and launch dark matter attacks, sometimes appearing in reality to fire a heavy rifle burst. With his illusion, he appeared to be teleporting, appearing for a second to launch a knife like projectile of dark matter at Kal'sik, embedding into his armour before disintegrating to rejoin the Leg'hrul for another attack.

La'kias was perhaps even more reckless and fierce, revealing a hidden aggression and power about him. The Kro'nogri may have been without his own dark matter, but his greater strength, even for a Kro'nogri, combined with an exosuit underneath his armour, made him dangerous. Especially when Kal'sik could not use dark matter to attack him without exposing himself to Kirth.

Kirth fired a dark knife, which Kal'sik ducked to avoid, slamming an arm blade towards the Leg'hrul. His aim true, it passed through another dark, smoky copy, smashing the crust beneath him. Before turning, a blade stabbed into Kal'sik's body, the warlord having turned just enough to make it miss any vital systems in his mech suit. Swinging out his arm, Kal'sik caught the Kro'nogri by the chest, and with a thud, he sent the Kro'nogri crashing onto the flat ground, on the edge of the intact area of the lava plateau, now just 6 metres away.

Turning back to Kirth, Kal'sik was surprised to see the human using dark matter also, but prepared. Raising his arms, Kal'sik deflected the rocketing human and his sword swipe, crouching as he recovered from the deflection. Flying overhead, Alex quickly spun in mid air, and fired a continuous chain of plasma fire from one of his wrist rifles, circling overhead.

Dark tendrils suddenly flew up, as Kal'sik used a rocket jump pack to fly near to Alex's level. Using his own dark tendrils, Alex deflected them, and fired his turbofan pack, the nozzle aimed skywards, his feet downwards. Crashing down on top of the mch platform's shoulders, Alex pressed his railgun into Kal'sik's neck, firing as his servo grabbed it and pulled it down towards his shoulder.

The tungsten shell mutilated Kal'sik's arm, rendering it a slow, near useless limb. Alex was blown away by Kal'sik's arm, just as he fired the shell also. Firing his turbofan pack, he pulled out his wrist plasma cannon, charged it, and fired.

Kal'sik had crashed to the ground, his electrodrivers in his robotic platform's ankles groaning and bending from the impact, and he rose to his feet again, reeling away in a spin as the plasma shot tore into his neck circuitry. Recovering, with his frame showing warning signs of some system failures, Kal'sik spun around, and fired his jump thrusters again, this time directly at Alex.

Firing as the Kro'nogri mech caught him, Alex yelled in pain as he was pinned beneath the mech. Raising a blade, Kal'sik aimed for Alex's arm, but remembered the facts about Alex's body, and where it was synthetic.

He smirked briefly, and said: "Let's open up old wounds." He raised he blade, engaging his plasma function, and stabbed down into Alex's right shoulder, precisely where his shoulder had been stabbed and torn in his first body so long ago.

The NKI shuttle flew in, having come from the Dawnbreaker, and deployed its garrison of 4 of the Dawnbreaker's loyal marines, 3 Kro'nogri and 1 Leg'hrul, and 6 of Alex's army's heavy infantry units. They ran towards the scene of the battle, following Ja'hail and Norstith, following the robotic Leg'hrul's commands:

"We need to destroy Kal'sik's body! And secure the landing zone. I just received word from the defending fleets, they're faring better than in other Dreadnought raids because of the larger homeworld fleets, but they are losing cities and ships at high rates"

Seeing the lava plateau in front of them, they rushed to the aid of the human being pinned and stabbed by Kal'sik, in the distance, to Norstith's horror. His son-figure was being mutilated in a fashion similar to that of 2 and a half years ago. Worse still, he saw no sign of any of the others in the rising smoke.

Ja'hail made the call known over the radio as the soldiers rushed to attack Kal'sik:

"The defensive fleets can spare us one orbital bombardment from one of their destroyers as it makes its way to attack a Fortress in St. Augustine from another orbital position! I'm going to mark the target!"

Running off, Ja'hail gripped the light missile launcher in his hands, one that fired tracking spear warheads as one kind of missile. The others had their job, and he had his. As much as it was a relief not to deal directly with the consequences of Kal'sik's attack, Ja'hail was left to mark up a targeting sequence for the UIP destroyer in orbit, as the Dawnbreaker rained lighter weapons fire the targeted Fortress as a distraction.

The entire extraction rested on Ja'hail's skill with a missile launcher.

In the rainforest, Quirinth stumbled, as she saw the erupting firefight ahead of them. Firi'sry stumbled, and gasped as she saw the Alliance patrols between them and the pick up point. Desperate, Firi'sry spoke to her Ikran: _**"Go back to the Omaticaya, save yourself. I will find you again."**_

The Ikran screeched in protest, but with a shush and a gentle rub from Firi'sry, it shook its head, as if upset, and snarled at the Alliance forces in the distance, and took off, heading east, back home.

Sighing, Firi'sry laid back, and Quirinth got an idea from what she saw: "Firi'sry! I'm getting us out of here!"

Pulling out her beacon, Quirinth set it to transmit a double alert, showing two people to the beacon.

Overhead, diving among the rock pillars, Aru'san saw the reinforcements headed for the pick up point, but her scanners showed two emergency beacons far out of the way.

Her programming kicking in, Aru'san fired her thrusters, the last of the Alliance fighters and assault craft for now gone. She made a flight path towards the two signals.

**Alright readers, just one more chapter and the Pandora arc will be done. Sorry for the delay, just exams and all.**

**Please review, anonymous or otherwise, I could use some constructive feedback to improve my storytelling perhaps.**

**Hint to readers, after Pandora I will give focus to Shockwave trying to gather support on New Cybertron from his old comrades, as Kal'sik sets his sights on New Cybertron.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 21: Ashes of death part 4.**

**25th September 2901**

**Alpha Centuari, Polyphemus orbit, fleet battle.**

Smoke ringing out in the corridors from blown fuse boxes and power cords, the UIP crew scrambled to the escape pods, alarms for a full vessel evacuation blaring over the rumble of the ship's death.

Stumbling, one Klingon officer grabbed a fellow human, and yanked him into the escape pod hatch, sealing it behind them. Seconds later, the pod ejected, the magnetic launchers and ion thrusters guiding it away from the dying craft, to safety.

In the pod's viewport, the vessel, a Romulan made, Narada class cruiser, was torn apart by the bombardment from the Dreadnought's heavy cannons, over 4000 kilometres away. Heavy tungsten shells and concentrated fusion explosions ripped through the hull, and before long, the reactor blew. As the antimatter canisters, carrying antiprotons to catalyse the fusion engines, lost power, the ship was blown in half, as the antimatter annihilated. With the explosive equivalent of 1 kiloton of explosives, the ship was lost.

But fate was unkind, as the survivors saw the Dreadnought simultaneously attacking the next largest ship in the defending fleet, while launching yet another heavy antimatter warhead towards Keletari's surface. The escorting Alliance fleet had taken losses, 3 destroyers, 5 corvettes and a pair of frigates, but that was trivial to the losses the UIP were suffering.

What was atrocious was the nature of those losses. Though the defending fleet itself was still quite intact against the Dreadnought, of dozens of cruisers, destroyers, frigates, corvettes, and a handful of carriers and battleships with reinforcements, they could not stop the orbital razing of neither Pandora or Keletari anytime soon. Even with more reinforcements on the way, the Dreadnought would deal extreme damage to the general population of both moons before it could be made to retreat before risking heavy damage.

The Dreadnought did have a limit to its power, but just how great that limit was drove the costs of the battle higher and higher.

**Alpha Centuari, Pandora, Kahtra'ya clan, lava plateau.**

Stumbling away, Kal'sik ran sideways in his heavy robotic platform, strafing from the incoming fire. Apparently the NKI had brought in a squad of reinforcements.

_Not a major issue._ Thought Kal'sik.

In his connection, he assumed control of the motor drivers in the Fortress, only controlling its walking movement. The 300 metre tall giant stomped, turning around its frame to face the lava plateau. Beneath it, scampering on the plateau, it noted the squad of troopers coming in.

It then fired a salvo of rockets from a compartment in its forward leg, releasing a few dozen small rockets towards the coastal facing edge of the lava plateau. Flying in, the rockets impacted the side, more concussive warheads, splitting the edge of the plateau. Lava spilled out in rivers now, released more from the plateau's underflowing streams, and falling into the sea. The sudden increase in flow drove a much larger steam cloud into the sea and air, fogging up the battlefield.

Before it lost visual sight, the fortress fired a string of heavy railgun slugs towards the plateau top, between Kal'sik's platform and the squad.

It failed to note a single figure obscured by the thrown up fog, a lone Kro'nogri, aged, and confident, standing ready on a lower side of the plateau's coastal cliff face.

The squad was divided up, and it was the forwards group that took the hit.

The rapid string of railgun slugs slammed into the lava plateau, shattering its area of impact and punching through it like paper. Shattering, the lava splashed from the hole created, and with horrific screams or silent offlining, 3 of the troopers, the Leg'hrul, a Kro'nogri and one of the robotic troopers, were engulfed in molten rock.

Collapsing, the bodies began to melt under the heat, burning through the armour, 2 of them falling into the crumbling hole created in the lava plateau crust. Their deaths were quick, but not without pain.

The 2 remaining Kro'nogri troopers, hardened marines, hesitated at the sight for only a moment, and saw their target ahead. Opening fire, their heavy rifles fired bursts of particle beam pulses at blinding speeds, the charged particles impacting Kal'sik's shields with noticeable force.

Turning to fire on them, Kal'sik suddenly registered a dark matter tendril seize his unit's neck, and yank it down to its knees. Letting out a grunt of annoyance, Kal'sik focused his efforts, and spun around to fire a long burst of plasma fire at Kirth.

The Leg'hrul leapt up, his ghostly plumage standing out in the black smoke and glowing red rivers around them. Dark matter darts rained down, disintegrating after smashing into Kal'sik's shields, and with a grunt, Kirth landed on the ground, and reached out with his implants.

Kal'sik felt his dark matter being turned against him, and he focused enough mental connection strength to counter it. A standstill, as Kirth struggled to stop Kal'sik from using his dark matter reserves.

"Your end is here Kirth. Accept that fact, I have beaten you."

"My most dependable piece is still in play, in case you have forgotten in your mad scramble for power you haven't earned." Kirth countered. Sure enough, Kal'sik spun around to avoid the blade heading for his head, as La'kias thrust an arm down from a leap onto Kal'sik's frame.

Grasping Kal'sik's shot shoulder, La'kias fired his special weapon, one for up close combat. Stabbing into his shield layers, the EM pulse tazer overloaded Kal'sik's shields, disabling his motor control for a few seconds.

In this time, Kirth took all the dark matter from Kal'sik's control, and brought it under his compete command, gathering it behind him. La'kias leapt off Kal'sik, rolling on the lava crust as the robotic warlord brought a fist down to where he had just been. Metal servo smashed through the crust like paper, and again as La'kias further rolled to avoid more hits.

Kirth shot a plasma rifle burst at Kal'sik, and as the robotic warlord brought his cannon to face the Leg'hrul, Kirth fired a large pulse of dark matter. Reacting quickly, Kal'sik sidestepped and ducked, and quickly redirected the flight path of the dark matter to hit La'kias. The Kro'nogri raised his arms, and Kirth made the pulse arc up just enough to hit La'kias ideally.

Wind driven from him, and with likely a bruise, La'kias was flung through the air, through a cloud of black smoke and over one of the outermost lava channels that had opened up. With a wince at the coming impact, La'kias smashed into the solid, unbroken lava crust ground beyond the battlefield, rolling to a stop, bruised, but safe.

Kal'sik barely recovered form his attack, as beyond all belief, ball of blue fire hit his armour, making the robot stumble. Turning to face his attacker, Kal'sik saw the wounded human girl let loose another fireball at him from her one good hand, this one catching him in the face in a long stream.

Visor slightly burnt from the heat, Kal'sik fired a backup weapon, an electrified grabble cable. The cable fired, but with disturbing speed for one wounded like that, Azula ducked away, dodging the electrified grapple cable as if it was moving at walking speed. Bending low, Azula fired another blue fireball at the robotic frame, causing Kal'sik to nearly stumble into the lava channel behind him.

Azula then saw Kal'sik fire a large pulse of plasma at her, an attack she couldn't dodge. Trying to dodge, she suddenly felt a cold grip take her, and she saw she was now flying, as Kirth had leapt into the air on dark matter springs with her in a dark grip, and now flew in to land on the unshattered plateau side.

"We've done enough, and you are injured. Now Azula, you must get to Norstith and make sure the others get there as well, namely Xale and Lexa. They should be coming out of the forest now, at the other end!"

Looking out, Azula saw two friendly beacons approaching from a distance, Xale and Lexa, on her scanners.

"What about Kal'sik?" Azula asked. Gazing back, Kirth merely noted: "He is being dealt with, in both manifestations of himself."

At his words, La'kias had leapt back into the smoke, back to engage Kal'sik, a ferocity overcoming him that made his kind dangerous in a prolonged fight. And with the heat from the lava beneath them, La'kias was going into a form of biological overdrive.

And he was not the only one.

"Defiant fool." Kal'sik remarked, surprise and a lack of amusement in his tone as he saw the Kro'nogri charge him. But he had not yet seen La'kias drawing his rifle from behind him.

In front, Sha'krii had leapt forwards, a feral growl escaping her throat as she slammed into his form, a plasma bayonet on her rifle driving into his chest. Kal'sik registered some minor motor control failures, but his scanners also detected an incoming enemy behind him.

With his body aided by his armour's exosuit enhancements, La'kias drove his fist, and claws, into Kal'sik's lower neck, smashing away some vital circuitry and armour plating with his bladed knuckle dusters. Driving Kal'sik to the ground, La'kias jumped on top of the robot warlord, and fired a long burst of plasma fire into Kal'sik's chest, drilling superheated holes into his frame.

Spasms overtaking his body from some circuitry overloads, Kal'sik thrust out his limbs in a bid to maintain his form. As Sha'krii stabbed and shot his already ruined arm with her rifle, Kal'sik swiped his hand up, smacking her away to land roughly 2 metres away on the same crust island. Bringing his hand around, he made to punch La'kias, but the Kro'nogri dodged, and raised his arm to deflect the punch upwards. Blocking another rapid jab, only just dodging the plasma wrist blade, La'kias saw the trap Kal'sik set for him, and braced himself, putting his hands out, his exosuit protecting him from the initial hit.

As La'kias had been forced backwards, Kal'sik had crouched his legs in, and once La'kias had stumbled back, he thrust out his foot, driving it towards the Kro'nogri traitor. Despite catching the kick, the momentum was too much for La'kias, and he literally flew into the black smoke.

Yelling in alarm and pain from the bruising of the kick, La'kias saw Kirth raise his dark tendrils to catch him. As La'kias passed by, the dark tendrils could only slow his fall, and with a winding impact, he landed and rolled once again on the lava crust.

At that moment, the Fortress groaned and seemed to roar, as explosions and heavy fire rained down on it from orbit.

**Simultaneously during the fight with Kal'sik.**

Ja'hail dove down the cliff face, but saw the rockets incoming form the Fortress. Ducking behind an outcropping, he swore loudly in a string of slurs from his native language. As the dust cleared, he saw the nearest rocket had hit just 50 metres away.

He breathed in relief, but halted his breath as he saw the cliff face begin to give way. Lava streams became rivers and lava falls, as the entire molten underbelly of the plateau leaked from beneath itself into the sea below.

A massive cloud of steam was thrown up from the sea, as the lava was cooled by the waters. Any thoughts of another attack were quelled, as Ja'hail could see the Fortress redirect its attention back to the Fortress after firing two missiles to somewhere atop the plateau. That was not his concern for now.

As the Fortress fired another spray of lasers into the sky, dissuading the Dawnbreaker, which was being kept away now by the Fortress being too near the pick up point, Ja'hail deployed his missile launcher. He loaded up the tracking missile, and checked the destroyer status in orbit. The destroyer was due to be in position in 2 minutes, for only 1 minute. After that, they risked leaving themselves relatively stationary for too long in the gas giant's orbital battlefield.

Looking up as he loaded the tracking missile, Ja'hail noted with some sombre thoughts of how minute flashes of light, piercing the twilight sky, were in fact large explosions and the deaths of ships. On the distant Keletari moon, he saw the sight of the once proud Na'vi capital planet cities glowing brighter than ever, but not in the lively golden glow of civilization, but the orange-red glow of death.

A metallic groan from the Fortress's legs a long way off snapped Ja'hail back to reality. He finished loading the tracker missile, and noted the just over 1 minute of time left. He had 3 shots, but he wanted to be sure he had as many trackers as possible. Raising the missile launcher, Ja'hail decided not to use a signal lock on, to avoid detection, and fired with his eyesight.

The missiles rocketed straight ahead, the white streaks hidden among the rising steam cloud at the base of the plateau and lava flows. Ja'hail watched through his scanners, and he saw the results of his aim.

As the Fortress turned to follow the Dawnbreaker's flight path, he saw one of the missiles hit the upper leg strut, and pierce the edge of the armour just deep enough to stick in. Almost immediately after impact, the missiles released adhesive fluid from the nose, sticking it in much more, and on impact, they began transmitting their coordinates.

Pleased with success, Ja'hail watched the other two missiles streak out. As the Fortress had turned, his 2nd missile went higher, embedding in the lower rear body of the Fortress's crab like body. The 3rd missile had missed entirely.

To his great dismay, the Fortress gauged the flight path of the 3rd missile, and traced it back.

Ja'hail had already begun to run, scrambling up the cliff face where he came, vanishing into the steam cloud. Around him, an antipersonnel cannon turret atop the Fortress sprayed laser fire into the rock faces, luckily missing him.

Yelling out loud as some rocks fell on his face from a blasted section above him, Ja'hail pulled himself up, now seeing a straight run to the plateau top. He called in: "Norstith, call it in, there are 2 beacons in place, begin attack!"

"**Copy, transmitting now. Attack time, 30 seconds."**

Running up the slope, Ja'hail only hoped Kal'sik was gone.

A half minute later, and the Fortress received multiple turbolaser shots from orbit, as well as well aimed railgun slugs at high velocity from the same orbiting destroyer. Ja'hail ducked as the shockwaves of the explosions rocked the air around him, and ran as fast as he could to the meeting point, where he already saw Xale and Lexa's group emerging from the other side of the plateau edge, to meet with Norstith and the few remaining troopers. He had come out too far towards them, so missed the fight with Kal'sik.

The dust from the fallen battle machine, having crashed into the ground just 100 metres away, engulfed the air. The Fortress's shields and armour had been overwhelmed by the sheer firepower delivered by the destroyer in a single flurry of shots from orbit.

Enraged by his Fortress's destruction, and his connection disrupted briefly from the signal loss, Kal'sik regained complete control of his robotic form, and stomped over to Sha'krii. He pulled out his cannon, and yelled: "Your allied UIP friends may have stopped my Fortress, for now, but even so, like how you attempt to destroy my current form, it is a useless endeavour."

On the ground, Sha'krii stumbled up, and stared down the charging barrel of the plasma cannon. Then, with a yell of surprise, and a rupture of an exposed conductive fluid line, a railgun slug tore through Kal'sik's neck circuits.

Through the smoke, off on another crust island, Alex stumbled on his feet, his pain and the blood loss getting to him, despite some cauterization of the shoulder wound. His left arm pressed his right shoulder, trying to put pressure on the wound to ease the pain, even as the nano-medibots in his built in armour's medical hardware tried their best to heal the large wound. His right arm was raised, his railgun smoking from his upper right arm. The dark matter swirled and solidified around his body, like makeshift crutches.

Firing another bolt, Alex gasped in pain as the recoil from the weapon shook his right shoulder, stretching the torn skin and opening up some blood flow. Each shot he took to try and destroy Kal'sik weakened him. Ahead, he saw Kal'sik raise his arm to block the shot, the tungsten round blowing off an armour plate. Kal'sik's frame spun, sing the momentum of the blast to spin around, and with a spin, he deployed his arm cannon, his last working one, and brought it to bear. As the cannon charged, Kal'sik took aim, and fired.

But his aim was not Alex. Instead, the concentrated plasma shot blasted the ground around Alex, crumbling it further. Desperately, Alex leapt away, leaping to a more solid crust island nearby, driving the wind from his chest as he landed. Shrapnel dented and imbedded itself in his armour, and the human cyborg rolled to a halt on the cracking lava crust floor.

Almost snorting in dissatisfaction, Kal'sik registered the Dawnbreaker coming in to land nearby, and he gave the order to attack anyone trying to flee onto it to the other alliance troopers incoming.

Turning around, Kal'sik saw Sha'krii had made a mad dash for freedom, and had leapt into the smoke. Only the blood stain on the floor from his twin claw marks on her face showed where she had been. Engaging infra-red vision, Kal'sik's sensors detected for a few moments Sha'krii's departing form through the heat and smoke.

Charging his cannon again, Kal'sik saw he had lost sight, but fired a quick burst into the smoke. As fate would have it, Sha'krii's reaction to another arrival saved her life from the stray shots, just.

"Reinforcements and evac! Get aboard, we'll hold anyone off!" Norstith nodded as the Kro'nogri acting captain of the Dawnbreaker fired her rifle off the loading ramp. Knowing he had to get away for the sake of the mission, Norstith ran aboard, radioing the others: "Dawnbreaker is at sight, fall back all NKI members!"

Then, from the foliage of the forest edge nearer the landed frigate, a small group of running people emerged. Leading the pack was a dark human male, cradling his left arm in a crooked manner, but was running fast. Behind him, a female Na'vi had hoisted a male human over her shoulder, firing back at some chasing Alliance marines in desperation. Lastly, a female human ran behind her, clutching her torso in pain and stumbling slightly, and at the very back, a silver cybertronian mech let loose fusion cannon bursts at the forests, setting alight, and vaporizing Alliance infantry mechs.

As they came in range, Norstith recognized the 3 wounded humans, and the Na'vi and Cybertronian. He ordered: "Cover those people coming from the forest! Heavy fire now!"

On cue, it was not any infantry weapons that began to mow down the Alliance marines, but a single anti-vehicle laser turret on the Dawnbreaker's port hull. The intense light beam burnt away the ground between the fleeing NKI and UIP members and the Alliance marines, incinerating a few of them outright.

In front, Ja'hail ushered Azula and La'kias towards the frigate boarding ramp, while Kirth looked back at the smoke rising from the collapsed lava field: "Alex and Sha'krii are still in there with Kal'sik!"

"WAIT! WHERE IS SE'RIE!" Norstith looked around in dread, while La'kias gazed at Kirth, worry now on his face. Kirth looked around, then back at the lava site, murmuring: "Why can't she stay in one place?"

Kirth pressed the button on his wrist, and the side doors in the frigate's hull opened to the secondary cargo bay. Behind him, a loud growl of animalistic ferocity echoed, as the 130 foot long, black and white furred and scaled Aree'lathor bounded out of the frigate's cargo bay.

Rushing out, Zirleth's frills, the small segments on the side of her head, rose in anger, as she saw something in front of the ship. Whipping around, Kirth saw Sha'krii running towards them, but she recoiled very slightly, straightening in shock at Zirleth's appearance.

The plasma bolts shot out, and with a flash of molecular incineration, her lower left leg was blasted off, and burnt at the stump end. The Kro'nogri princess crumpled, her momentum sending her sprawling forwards on the lava crust, now only 200 metres from the Dawnbreaker. Despite the hum of the engines and rumbling of the exposed and unstable lava below the crust, her scream of agony rippled through the air.

"Zirleth, kill any Leg'hrul or Kro'nogri you don't know!" Kirth ordered, taking flight quickly to reach the princess. With an ear splitting roar, her mandible maw parting in a fearsome display, Zirleth charged towards the smoky area, where the shots had come from.

On the ground, Sha'krii gasped, crying now in pain as she felt the stub of the bone on the end of her now dead, burnt, gone limb. Her leg, gone.

As a dark, imposing figure appeared in a slight clearing of smoke, Sha'krii scrambled backwards, the will to survive overcoming her pain. She heard herself scream, but it was masked by the otherworldly, shrieking roar that sounded from behind her.

Over her head, she saw the shape of Zirleth step on top of her, standing protectively over her, roaring again as she crouched low. Ducking her armoured head, Zirleth shrieked as her forehead shielded Sha'krii from the blasts of Kal'sik's plasma cannon, natural and synthetic armour evening the odds.

A clawed hand grabbed Sha'krii, and the familiar grasp of dark matter carried her off, almost flying, towards the Dawnbreaker, where almost everyone was loading up now. Kirth replied: "We're done here."

"What about Alex?" Sha'krii rasped, the pain still too much to bear. Kirth replied: "Zirleth can handle Kal'sik, and Se'rie was eager to get him out safely."

Firing towards the massive creature before him, Kal'sik noted aloud: "Kirth's pet. This was unexpected." Firing another burst of fire, he hit Zirleth's lower jaw, a lucky shot that burnt off a small segment of her flesh, earning a recoil of pain from the immense creature.

Suddenly, Kal'sik's audio sensors detected movement behind him, and he whipped around to see Alex struggling to rise to his feet on the next crust island over. Raising his arm cannon, Kal'sik thought to himself: "No more interruptions."

From out of the darkness, another Leg'hrul appeared, quickly snatching something from Alex. As it leapt up, Kal'sik scanned the target, and identified it as the female Leg'hrul he thought he had killed in the lava channels. Before he could raise his arm cannon up to fire at her, she had thrown something at him, something glowing red, and long.

Trying to raise an arm, in the second before it hit, Kal'sik knew this platform was gone. His motor control circuits had been damaged by La'kias's hands on approach, and Alex's shot to his neck. There was no way he would block or deflect the extended plasma blade in time.

Disconnecting his link, Kal'sik contemplated as he was sucked back to his real form a few dozen light years away: _Only one death, but many injuries and broken spirits, and an entire village gone. Had I killed them all, they would be martyrs for the NKI movement. This may be a failure of mine to them, but in the end, they now fear me. And that is one of the weapons I see as most useful._

The robotic unit finally went offline, as the plasma blade decapitated it, the blade cutting through the circuits and armour that were left after Alex's neck shot. With a crumple, the robotic body of Kal'sik became a lifeless husk on the ground.

Flying back down, the female Leg'hrul pulled out the sword, adding it to the second she had carried with her originally. With a snarl, she stabbed the main power generator of the robotic unit, to be sure it was dead.

Satisfied, she flew up, wincing as the smoke and air collided with the burnt end feathers of her wing, where it had briefly touched the lava before Kirth flew in to rescue her. Landing beside Alex, who was groaning loudly, Se'rie knelt down beside him, screaming over the cracking ground:

"Alex! ALEX! GET UP!"

Shaking his head, Alex looked at Se'rie, shock on his face, and she replied quickly: "Kirth got me before I fell into the lava completely." She lifted her wing, showing the now black end feathers of her wing. Se'rie tried pulling Alex up, but it took the human's legs and dark crutched to hoist himself up. Gasping in horror and revulsion at the damage done to Alex's shoulder, Se'rie reassured him: "It's OK, we'll get out of this!"

His aggression being the only thing keeping him fully conscious, Alex pushed Se'rie aside with some force, though not enough to hurt or stumble. With a roar, Alex charged his dark matter, and leapt through the smoke, his turbofan propelling him through towards the Dawnbreaker.

Se'rie flew through the smoke, and with relief, she saw some Alliance crew dragging Alex into the Dawnbreaker, and removing his armour to dress the sound with nano doctor paste and bandages for now. As the female Leg'hrul landed, Zirleth ran behind her, padding around quickly into her cargo bay in the Dawnbreaker.

On the boarding ramp, Se'rie was last on, and as she boarding hatch shut, Kirth came up to her, having returned from getting Sha'krii safely aboard, and said with a stern tone: "Don't run off as soon as I have saved your life once."

"I needed to get Alex!" She argued.

"Which I understand, I just disapprove of your recklessness. What is done is done though, and we must leave to meet with the NKI fleet coming in within a day at the selected sector. And we have a lot of wounded." Kirth said, turning to leave, Se'rie following into the Frigate.

Up on the command bridge, the female Kro'nogri XO called out as Kirth entered the bridge with La'kias, Norstith and Se'rie: "Attack craft Aru'san is on the line, putting her through!"

"**Dawnbreaker, I have rescued the two UIP members, one civilian and one now surrendered agent, and have them with me. I am on route to travel in formation with the Dawnbreaker in cloaking. Identities are a female Predator, Quirinth, and a female Na'vi, Firi'sry. Both have suffered injuries, but are immediately safe."**

Clicking the comms button, La'kais said as he winced from some bruises he had: "Good. Once we're clear of the battlezone in and around Polyphemus, fly to attach yourself to the cargo hanger energy field so your cockpit access port can let them come into the ship without the airlock. I know you don't have an airlock function. Then attach to the frigate as we hit FTL."

"**Acknowledged."**

The message cut out, and as the quiet atmosphere took over the frigate bridge, they now saw the sight outside as they left the moon.

The Dreadnought fleet was nearly done, though their task was not entire genocide. Most of the large settlements on both Pandora and Keletari, though not any of the tribal clans (minus the now gone Kah'traya of course), had been reduced to flaming hellholes, or craters.

Orbiting and flying over both moons, the dreadnought itself was intact, only suffering armour damage, but still pummelling moons and ships with firepower. The escort fleet had taken much more damage, but all that was fractional to the mass of floating ship corpses from the UIP defence fleet, and the reinforcements were only succeeding in diverting the attention of the dreadnought.

As they witnessed a UIP destroyer get blown up in a single shot, the bridge crew were silent as the Dawnbreaker, and Aru'san not far behind, left the ruined Na'vi home and capital worlds behind at sub-light speed, under cloaking.

None of them could contemplate the cruelty behind the leader of these attacks, especially in wake of what he had done to many of their officers, in the medical bay below a deck. And none of them could see a near future of him stopping at all as he sought to burn the UIP to ashes.

**Finally, the Pandora segment is done! Sorry for delays, end of school and such.**

**On story wise, the next chapter wraps up the aftermath of Kal'sik's attack, and unfolds a brief arc of Shockwave rallying support on New Cybertron from old allies, and facing Kal'sik's next raid of choice on his new home planet.**

**Please review and comment if you wish, I could use constructive criticism of motivation. In the very least, read and enjoy my work.**


	22. Chapter 22

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 22: Pursuit, growing flames.**

**28th September 2901**

**UIP interstellar space**

3 days time since the loss of Alpha Centuari to a Dreadnought raid had done little to ease the burden and sense of defeat by all those aboard the Dawnbreaker, NKI and UIP 'guest' alike.

The reports were all the same, of Pandora suffering horrific losses of life and infrastructure in the colonies, civilian and military alike, some even losing nearly a fifth of the population at worst. Alongside this, there was the personal guilt of a few of the NKI members for the confirmed loss of nearly half of the Kahtra'ya clan population.

As horrific as Pandora's losses were, Keletari suffered worse. While the percentage of Keletari's population killed was significantly lower, at around only 6 per cent losses at worst in some densely populated areas, the total loss was much greater. Pandora had been less defended at ground level, and was an easier target. But Keletari held many more people, and important infrastructure as the Na'vi capital moon. The death toll mounted collectively between both moons at around 30 million dead from the raids, civilian and military alike.

Worse still, the Pandora defensive fleet had been decimated once the Dreadnought had completed much of its planetary bombardment shots. By the time necessary reinforcements came in from Sol and other colonies, the UIP defending fleet had lost a Carrier, 4 cruisers, 5 frigates, and 16 corvettes, and a Battleship had been damaged enough to have to be evacuated.

And yet, despite heavy reinforcements, the UIP had failed to defend both moons. They were only spared more destruction by Kal'sik intending to only strike a crippling blow to morale and infrastructure of the Na'vi, and the UIP as a whole.

And the question on everyone's minds was where the Alliance would send Kal'sik to strike next.

The Dawnbreaker hung in interstellar space, waiting the arrival of an advance group of craft from the incoming joint NKI and former KI ship fleet inbound from Solaris, with Raxler heading it. In that time, the wounded had been treated, and the dead had been mourned.

But the toll that Kal'sik's attack, and its implications, had on those affected began to show in their changed behaviour.

From afar, across the mess hall deck, the UIP survivors Sru'sky, Quirinth, Lanver, and Firi'sry gazed across at the assorted 'survivors' on the room's far end. Trion, being too large, was unfortunate enough to share a cargo hold with Zirleth, though he distracted himself by trying to strike up conversation over wireless link with his fellow UIP survivors, or surprisingly, Aru'san, as her draconian form latched onto the Dawnbreaker's hull like a remora fish to a shark.

Across the room, they could notice the very faint glances and eyes trained towards the newest arrival, as she limped to sit down at her nearest table, her quick replacement leg still causing trouble after 2 days, as expected. Where Sha'krii had once seemed regal, commanding and determined, she now seemed crooked, withdrawn and could now constantly be seen with a mild scowl on her face. The banished princess was wounded in spirit and body, her difficult artificial leg now a physical manifestation of how she had lost her sense of drive.

The leg itself had been an easy job, temporary until a better replacement came in. The leg was a very basic, a powerful enough leg on its own, more powerful than her previous leg, but was still new, and lacked advanced design. It was aesthetically ungainly, and while a physical improvement, it served as a cruel reminder to her of her defeat.

A part of the NKI's leader had been lost with her leg, and by the colder demeanour she had begun to exhibit to those she had considered friends, they feared it was her defining compassion that had been severely wounded or lost altogether.

And Sha'krii was only one of those affected.

Turning back, Quirinth absentmindedly rubbed her cast, the reattached mandible still sore, but guaranteed to work after another 6 days in the cast. Lanver commented lowly: "I still can't believe it was Zoran all along who started this war."

"**Didn't you work for him?" **Asked Trion over a radio. Nodding, Lanver absentmindedly scratched his neck, commenting: "Yeah, I took a few jobs, and I got a guy who I was told was guilty arrested." In that moment, Lanver sheepishly, looked down at the table, as Jarothes walked by at that moment with Krith Lovisk at his side, discussing new intel they needed to analyse for the next moves to try and counter the Alliance.

Lanver was still nursing the healed broken nose he had gotten from Krith soon after he came aboard the Dawnbreaker once away from Pandora. The Sril'sask didn't take him organizing Jarothes's arrest on evidence he thought to be true very lightly.

On the bridge, Alex winced as his right arm moved in its socket slightly. Even with his healing right shoulder, he could still move his arm normally, though he felt a good deal of pain at times. But he had endured far worse pain before.

As Alex oversaw the bridge, a comforting, somewhat familiar environment away from a battlefield, he looked around. Kirth and La'kias compared statistics of the NKI raids and rioting through the Alliance they received reports on, while Norstith worked at a message console, doing whatever he was doing.

The bridge doors slid open, and the 4 senior NKI members were greeted to the sight of an urgent sounding pair of UIP intelligence workers. Jarothes opened up the talk: "This is urgent, we just made some cross checks with signals leaving and coming to this ship, and we found one signal that changed its frequency range, an FTL signal."

"How is this of relevance to us?" Asked Norstith.

"The frequency can be picked up by anyone now, anyone with suitable FTL comm signal receivers that is. Thing is, before recently it was already broadcasting, just on a single frequency, the same frequency used by undercover UIP intelligence agents." Krith explained.

"When did we first begin detecting the UIP signal, ignoring the change to open frequency?" Asked Kirth, some degree of concern in his voice.

"3 days ago. And I think I know where it is coming from." Jarothes said. He continued: "One of the UIP people we brought aboard as rescues from Pandora is the source of the broadcast signal. He doesn't know about it, because he thinks Zoran long deactivated his tracer implant, and has yet to remove it. The same person who helped him arrest me."

"Lanver?" Asked Alex.

"Precisely. If Zoran is working with Kal'sik in some unknown deal, he could be using Lanver's signal to broadcast our position to our enemies, specifically Kal'sik's forces." Jarothes added.

"He could be tracking us right now!" La'kias realized. Kirth heeded this, and commanded to the sensor crew on the bridge: "Engage full long range sensors, and cloak our position!"

Even as the crew carried it out, Norstith noted aloud: "Even cloaked, the signal from Lanver's implant will still broadcast our position."

"Sir!"

Whipping around, Kirth gazed expectantly at the bridge officer, a 32 year old Kro'nogri male, who responded: "We're getting reports coming in, urgent ones. The Dreadnought that attacked Pandora, the one that arrived in the Frosian system for a regroup with another Dreadnought fleet? It left the system 2 hours ago, heading along a trajectory of plus 601-843-233! Its headed to this sector. The reports were late because of comm jamming in the area."

The last part of the report was almost unheard, as Kirth had ordered to his XO, the Kro'nogri female: "Sound the general alert! By the time we're ready for a jump they'll be here, and we can't risk getting caught flat footed."

The bridge exploded into action, as Kirth issued frantic orders: "The NKI fleet is due here in 15 minutes, and the Dreadnought could be on us in less than that! Prepare all weapons, and make sure we are cloaked as long as possible! Keep this ship in one piece for as long as possible, and don't abandon your posts until the ship is lost!"

"Yes sir!" The collective affirmation sounded on the bridge.

Norstith headed to the doors, calling to La'kias: "We need to prepare everyone to evacuate! Grab any weapons, any useful equipment, medicine, tech, anything! We need to be ready to get aboard the NKI ship quickly, where it will stand a better chance of survival."

Beside him, Norstith noticed Alex pulling Krith and Jarothes with him, the human yelling as he sprinted: "This whole evacuation is useless if they can still find us!"

Nodding, Norstith and La'kias followed behind, while they heard Krith say: "I'll go to the medical room, we'll need anaesthetic!"

Alarms suddenly blared as some of the others had wandered into the mess hall, and the automated voice sounded the highest alert. Kirth's voice punctured the air: **"A dreadnought has our position, tracking us by a UIP intelligence implant! The NKI fleet is inbound in 15 minutes, get any weapons, medicine and tech we need and any needed supplies, and be ready to board an NKI ship as quickly as possible!"**

The moment the intercom went quiet, the mess hall erupted into an organized dash to quarters and equipment lockers, as Kro'nogri and Leg'hrul rushed to their areas and rooms to salvage as much of the frigate as possible.

Sha'krii rose to her feet, stumbling as she had rushed her first step too much on her prosthetic leg. Grunting, she picked up the pace, shoving past Se'rie as she rushed into the mess hall with Ja'hail beside her.

It was soon enough that she was kitting up as much as she could in her allocated room.

Back inside the mess hall, Norstith and La'kias had come over to the other tables, and hurried them to their allocated quarters to quickly pack. Some of them commented in anger: "We just escaped Pandora, now they're here again!" as Sru'sky voiced her opinion aloud.

As they came to the crew quarters, they saw Xale, Lexa and Azula storm past, obviously in a rush to help with some other equipment, but as they passed the UIP group additionally noticed the changes in them.

Xale's face now had only a single eye, the other having been removed for now. A red raw, but non-bleeding hole was all that remained of his right eye now. His face was marked with the diagonal scar marking the claw swipe that took his eye, and his remaining eye was now a mirror of his mindset. It no longer held any glimmer of emotion behind the golden colour and the pupil, instead it seemed more dull, the yellow stare now like drops of snake venom in the single eye.

Azula's gaze flickered to them briefly as she ran in pursuit of Xale. The resentful look she held was one she had not had for over 2 years now, not since just being sprung from the mental asylum did she look like that, though only a select few knew of this.

Lexa's body language too echoed her rage and frustration, likely brought on by this incoming dreadnought attack after Pandora. But her look was something strange, a dull stare. While her eyes normally held life and emotion, good or bad, here they had adopted the look she had not had since being a clone assassin for the original KI. The dull look of someone who knew death was likely to soon be required for her to dish out.

The moment of witnessing the change in emotion in those 3 humans was shattered as they saw Alex and Jarothes step into the hallway before them. Stopping, Sru'sky and Firi'sry stopped as they saw the look in the human's eyes, while Quirinth stumbled slightly in fear. Behind them, Krith stepped into view, and said: "Take him, we have little time."

Before any of them could react, Alex charged, running at a stunning speed towards them in the hallway. But he ran past them, until he thrust out his arm at a speed great enough to overwhelm untrained eyes, and seized his prey.

"ARRGH!" Lanver yelled out loud as Alex gripped the fabric of his shirt roughly, the metal talons digging into them, the ends piercing the fabric under the grip. Whipping around, Alex switched his grip to the back of Lanver's neck, as he thrust out his hand, reaching to Se'rie.

Yelling in shock, Se'rie stumbled back as her boyfriend seized one of her/his swords from her belt, completely ignoring her. Shouting in protest, Quirinth started towards him, but backed down as Alex yelled to La'kias and Krith/Jarothes respectively: "Get them out of here! You two, I've got him, get to work!"

Attempting to usher them out, the UIP people were pushed down the hallway, but fought in protest long enough to see Alex, Krith and Jarothes set to work.

Extending the short needle, Krith thrust it gently into the exposed back of Lanver's neck. The female Sril'sask noted how the dark male human struggled under the combined weight of Alex and herself, his screams of protest and betrayal changing to those of the mild pain and shock from the numb feeling setting in. Timing it, Krith gave the signal, and Jarothes took the sword from Alex, extending the blade to its shortest length, to that of a short knife. Switching the vibro mode on, Jarothes felt his small grey hand on the dark human's neck, the struggling dying, until he found the spot, recognizing the slight bulge to the left of the spine. Carefully but with reasonable speed, he put the blade in.

Among the watchers, they could only watch in horror as Lanver began semi moaning and yelling in pain from the incomplete acting anaesthetic and the knife like incision on the back of his neck. The blood coming from his neck was ignored as they necessarily cut him open at the back left side of his neck.

A gruelling few moments passed, and Norstith had had enough of their idle behaviour, and yelled loud enough for his currently electronic voice to vibrate with the sound only a machine produces: "GET A MOVE ON! THIS IS FOR OUR SURVIVAL!"

As they moved off, Jarothes yelled in triumph, and picked out the small object, as Krith leant in and sprayed a sealing liquid onto the flap of skin that had been cut in Lanver's neck side to get the object, just beneath his skin. As she finished spraying, and began wrapping Lanver's neck in bandage wrapping, Jarothes ran over with the object, his grey hand stained with Lanver's red blood. In the palm of his 4 digit hand lay a small device, the size of an early 21st century penny coin.

Dropping it, Jarothes smashed his foot onto it, saying: "Transmitter, piggybacked a signal onto the frigate's comm. Networking whenever we drop in and out of FTL, that's how it remained undetected for 3 days."

Hoisting Lanver onto her back, Krith walked briskly past them, and unceremoniously handed Lanver to Sru'sky, saying: "Hold the meatbag, he'll be out of it for an hour or 2."

Still reeling from shock at the sudden surgery, Se'rie snapped around as she saw Jarothes pass the sword Alex had taken from her back into her talons. He had wiped the blood off onto his hands and shirt, but looking up, she saw Alex talking on his built in communicator.

As the other rushed off to get to their places and pack the essentials, she approached him. Turning to face her, Alex saw the look in her eyes. It was a look of despair, concern and fear, a look he was troubled by.

In a brief moment, he recalled all he had been through with her. All the good times, how he had met her after she had just been allowed to live again, how they began a relationship, how she joined him because she really had no other career alternatives at the time, of how he trained her to become a proficient fighter to be able to defend herself and fight.

But a few flashes of Pandora, all of them punctuated by Kal'sik's silhouette hurling her away to that fiery chasm, standing over him as Alex lay beaten, even to him standing back and watching Alex be operated on at the Varya station.

Kal'sik had targeted them, and Alex had put one of the people he cared for most into the destructive path of the galaxy's most dangerous man, as he blazed a trail towards Alex and other NKI high members. There was only one guaranteed way to make sure she survived.

Excommunication.

"Se'rie, go with Norstith, and do as he says is best. And if he says to quit the NKI, do it." Alex said, no sadness, no anger, just stating a fact.

Hurt and angry, Se'rie protested: "NO! I told you that I would help you, and I wouldn't abandon you, that I'd always be there at your side to help!"

"That's the problem. If you're by my side, then I have you to worry about when I face death or Kal'sik next. With you out of the way, we can both be more effective, no distractions, no bonds for anyone to take advantage of, we'll be stronger."

"So that's it then! My love for you is a weakness to you? You think our love stops you from being stronger!" Se'rie was truly angry now, and yet Alex continued to show little emotion towards her feelings.

"No, not me, both of us. If both of us worry about the other, we're not as effective in whatever we do. You've seen first hand what Kal'sik did to us all, what he did to Morthas, and he is coming for us again. So I'm going to say it again Se'rie, go with Norstith."

"This isn't fair Alex! I can fight, and I'm staying with you! You think Kal'sik hurt only you but look around! We've all been hurt by him, but why has he had an impact on you? Are you afraid!"

Having stopped, Firi'sry was hearing the exchange with her sensitive hearing, and she heard a thump of something hitting a wall, before a raised voice echoed

Before Alex knew it, he had smashed his fist into the nearby wall, denting the metal plating slightly and yelling into Se'rie's face as she stumbled back in shock: "YES! I AM AFRAID OF KAL'SIK! He tortured me on the Varya station, he has become the most powerful being in the galaxy, and he took on nearly all of us on Pandora, nearly killed us when he was holding back, and killed Morthas. AND HE WON'T STOP UNTIL ENTIRE WORLDS BURN! I WILL NOT HAVE ANY WEAKNESS WHEN I FIGHT HIM NEXT TIME, SO I WILL NOT HAVE ANYTHING HE CAN USE AGAINST ME!"

Turning around, Alex stormed off, saying as he turned away from the silent Leg'hrul he left behind: "This goes beyond both of us. We can't take chances now, so this is goodbye, for now at least. I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry you can't let go of this obsession." Se'rie finished, before heading off. The sound of her armoured talon covers clicking in the hallway as she walked would be in his memory forever. He hung his head, his eyes beginning to sting with tears as his chest tightened.

With practiced focus, Alex buried his feelings, and set off for hanger bay.

Outside the viewport, a faint shape suddenly appeared in the distance, a small speck of light. But the scanners confirmed it as the dreadnought.

And a smaller, but still large shape was inbound, fast.

In the hanger bay, after Alex had warned Trion, Aru'san had flown in, allowing Trion to latch onto her frame as she flew out into the vacuum of space again. Sensing the tension in the air, Zirleth lowered herself on all fours, snarling in a low tone.

In minutes, as the smaller shape drew within 10 miles of the frigate, the Liberator suddenly appeared near to the Frigate, docking cradles already extending from the main hull.

The mass field generators from the battleship drew the frigate into itself, attaching 2 of the docking tubes to the ship. Boosting shields as evacuation began, the frigate's 300 man crew began to evacuate.

3 minutes in, and space around the Battleship and docked frigate was alight with incoming laser fire and bursts of fragmenting missile warheads.

From over a thousand kilometres away, the Dreadnought had moderately opened fire on the small fragment of the fleet, with its escort ships doing little in the way of offensive attacks. The Liberator was flanked by 3 frigates, and 2 destroyers, both being part of Alex's former KI fleet, and equal levels of fire were exchanged.

But the nature of the attack became known with the incoming Fortress unit hurtling towards the Dawnbreaker and Liberator.

By now, most of the crew were offloaded, and only a few more crates of supplies and officers were needed to be removed. Then, the shots were fired.

Running through the access corridor, Quirinth was thrown from her feet as an explosion ripped through the cocking tube 9 metres behind her. Around her, the air roared as the vacuum sucked it out, and 1 unlucky Kro'nogri crewmember of the Dawnbreaker was sucked out.

Luckily, the docking tube bulkhead shields activated, ceasing the escaping air flow. Exhaling in relief, Quirinth rushed to the Liberator's end of the tube, where she overheard frantic organization:

"The second tube has been severed, one casualty confirmed! The Fortress is too near!"

An alarm sounded, and the voice of the XO of the Dawnbreaker sounded over the speakers, saying: **"We stay connected, and we endanger more people! I'm pulling out the Dawnbreaker until we're clear of the attack!"**

Pulling off, aboard the ship, the Kro'nogri XO took control of the ship, overriding the docking lockdown, and gunning the fusion engines. The frigate flew away from the Battleship at speed, its silent roar and engine glow a signal to the enemy of their escaping quarry.

Aboard the main hanger bay, Kirth looked down in anger, as he muttered aloud:

"My ship, my pride and joy, and Kal'sik plans to destroy it."

La'kias was beside him, looking up from his data tool analysing incoming battle reports from the space warfare fight taking place outside: "With all respect sir, things could be worse for you. We did manage to get most of the important personnel and equipment off the Dawnbreaker before XO Jae'rala had to pull out."

Behind him, a low growl, more like a loud grumbling purr, sounded, as Zirleth stomped up beside Kirth, her 2 left eyes staring at the ghostly coloured Leg'hrul. Scowling slightly, Kirth admitted: "It is who could not get off before pulling out that concerns me."

A few minutes later, and a general alert went through the Battleship. The Dawnbreaker would take an alternate route, while the Liberator fleet withdrew.

The plan: Let the Dawnbreaker draw the Dreadnought in, where their captured Dreadnought and its accompanying fleet would ambush and destroy it.

Predictably, not everyone agreed with the plan, especially considering who was left on the Dawnbreaker, willingly or otherwise.

Sru'sky had been in a fit of rage, and Trion had to restrain her from hurting anyone out of anger. But he could understand, for she would never wish for her mother to be stuck on the Dawnbreaker when it was being pursued by a Dreadnought, under the command of Kal'sik, albeit remotely.

Se'rie had been disheartened, and pain filled, when she learnt that Alex's insistence to remain behind and ensure all was evacuated had doomed him to the Frigate. But to all the NKI members, Sha'krii's entrapment on the frigate was a nightmare.

As the dreadnought fleet was .last seen changing course to chase the retreating Dawnbreaker, the Liberator fleet took to FTL, meeting with the NKI dreadnought fleet. Their destination in 1 day of travel: Cybertron, where hopefully Shockwave had rallied support.

Over the remote link, the AI of the Pandora assault Dreadnought, named Hrai'shan [Vengeance in Kro'nogri dialect], communed with the hybrid AI mind of Kal'sik over 200 light years away.

"**Shall priority be given to retreating Frigate class vessel?"**

"**Yes, pursue them. If the frigate is pursued, the NKI will lose its political muscle, and much of its military leadership. I want them alive though, if any are to be killed, I shall lead a group aboard and do it personally. I want the NKI defeated, not for them to have martyrs to worship and hold up as inspiration."**

"**And I addition, there is the tactical advantage to us offering assistance to the Dreadnought attacking New Cybertron in 4 days by weakening the defensive fleets and possibly the larger planetary defences. The Hrai'shan still has sufficient ammunition and fuel for such an attack, and a large portion of its escort fleet."**

"**Very well. I shall send a pair of standby battleship groups in the nearest occupied system to assist though, they will arrive shortly. New Cybertron is a valuable target, and home to the most advanced race in the galaxy, even more than the Alliance races. I won't take chances."**

The line was cut, and Kal'sik reclined in his seat, his command console in front of him alight with holographic displays, showing data from the various dreadnought fleets and their raids.

As powerful as the Dreadnoughts were, he had to give credit to the UIP for how well they defended their home systems. Of course, the Dreadnoughts suffered only armour based damage, but the escort fleets took quite heavy losses. In his mind though, such costs were worth the strategic advantage of devastating the UIP homeworlds.

Admittedly Kal'sik was annoyed that he had to not attack Earth. When it became apparent that Pandora and Keletari were under heavy siege, reinforcements from other systems had bolstered Earth and Sol's defences, as well as going to try and salvage the Na'vi home system planets. And the Dreadnought fleet was not able to attack two heavily defended home planets right after one another.

But with Alpha Centuari under siege, and Sol being bolstered with defence, Kal'sik sought to attack New Cybertron, the rogue planet being less defended by its advanced, but under-populated species. As powerful as Cybertronians were, they could not reproduce quickly due to their lifespan. And as such, Kal'sik saw them as the hardest to defeat, but the easiest to keep down once down. Besides, after the Varya failure, he had a personal debt to himself to ravage that planet.

The rogue planet would glow like a star under the fiery heat of millions synthetic beings crying out in despair and pain as he wrought down judgement upon them.

In FTL, Raxler was on route, the NKI fleet headed for New Cybertron. Processing the information, the robotic being knew that should the fighting take place on the planet, unless Shockwave managed to rally the outcast former Decepticons to battle, and an effective strategy was carried out, the planet would likely suffer extreme casualties. It did not matter how hard the defence forces, many former Autobots, fought, there would be extreme, and even to a synthetic, unacceptable casualties.

In FTL, ships flying in formation were unseen by one another, but Raxler knew they were still there. The Liberator battle fleet may not be among them, not until they actually reached New Cybertron within a day, but Raxler would exercise confidence if he truly could 'feel'.

Standing on the bridge of the Dreadnought, his synthetic mind linked to the sensors of the ship, detecting every input of data on sensors, communications, weapons and engines, or the status of the living and synthetic forces aboard its interior, the complement of an entire army, all coalescing into Raxler's complex mind.

And around him, 1 Battleship, 4 Cruisers, 6 Destroyers and 9 frigates, though some of them were mercenary or pirated ships outfitted with makeshift, but effective enough, armour and weapons, flew in formation with the Dreadnought. If this didn't at least make Kal'sik reconsider attacking, then he would get a battle worthy of legendary status.

Such ruthless warfare was often the limit of organic morality, and emotions could only weaken in this form of war. To Raxler this was irrelevant, I was simple to him. Destroy the Dreadnought fleet, regardless of the cost. And unlike his creator or his associates, though Raxler respected them greatly and saw them as companions at times, the synthetic being held no moral restrictions against using the very terrorizing weapon the Alliance used against the homeworlds against them in turn.

_Like the human proverb: "Fight fire with fire." _Was what Raxler processed to himself.


	23. Chapter 23

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 23: Transform and rise up, firestorm part 1.**

**29th September 2901**

**New Cybertron.**

Scowling to himself, Shockwave was annoyed greatly by how little time had been given to him. Sure he had some support, as his status within the NKI had garnered some respect, but many former Decepticons were content to sit on their afts and let this war get worse.

And with the approaching Dreadnought fleet, it would get much worse.

_**Past: 27th September 2901**_

_**New Cybertron**_

_It had been a day since his arrival, and over communications links Shockwave had set about distributing information and calls for help to former Decepticons, ones who he had fought with many times before. The organization started on the 25th, but response was slow at first, but the mech was confident that it would at least pick up pace, although legal means and peaceful rallying would only do so much. _

_Because of his 'peacekeeping' role in the galactic war now, Shockwave had the newfound ability to get an audience, a low profile audience, with some high profile Cybertronians. Some of whom he would have once killed on sight during the war._

_Such ones included those who sat across from him now, processing the information he had given them in a data packet. _

_All the information on the Dreadnought, the top secret possession of a Dreadnought, and the incoming fleet accompanying it to launch a counter strike against one of Kal'sik's fleets. Also included was the fact and rumoured transactions of the insider man in the UIP high command, who by evidence was one of the Alliance's alleged 'UIP ambassadors'. Only the name and specific transactions were neglected, as Shockwave was unaware of them, while his allies knew already._

_Beside him, Soundwave stood as passively as ever. The former Decepticon communications officer and third in command had been one of the first to respond to Shockwave's requests for allies, as he was quick to spot the facts. Though nowhere as physically imposing as Shockwave, at just over half his height, he was fast, and actually more intelligent than Shockwave was, a feat in itself for the mech. Plus, his miniature mechs Laserbeak and Ravage came in handy often._

_Aside from the monotoned Decepticon though, not many other former high ranking Decepticon officers had responded. Sure there had been many former 'Grunts' and even some newcomer volunteers, and even some army dropouts, expelled or quit for hired work. At this stage, every Cybertronian not in active recruitment now could really be used._

_Shockwave was surprised and disappointed that Starscream had not come to his calling. Being the sycophant that he was, Shockwave had been expecting the seeker, followed by his trine brothers, to come to him with a response, even if it was to eventually try and overthrow him, just as Starscream had plotted so much against Megatron for millennia until nearly 900 years ago._

_Putting the holo display pads down, the former Autobot, Prowl, contemplated this information, though he admitted to himself that it gave him a slight processor ache trying to comprehend a possible revival of the Decepticon faction. Beside him, Jazz looked on the mech with intense scrutiny, and distrust. The silver mech was trying to control his temper, as the presence of the former second in command Decepticon was disturbing to him._

_It was the presence of the third mech in the room that Shockwave found himself venting a lot of heat from his system in anger over. While this mech was the one Shockwave hated above any others, the cycloptic mech begrudgingly knew that Optimus was integral in securing this buildup of a private force._

_Whether he assist Shockwave or simply allow him to rally more Decepticons for the NKI specifically, he would get an army. And he was not going to let the Prime tell him otherwise._

_Air exhaling in a sigh from his vents, Optimus asked Shockwave: "You are insisting to use this task force you are putting together for use against the Alliance and the Alliance alone?"_

"_I would not be foolish enough to try and use it otherwise. I have no intention of placing our race in jeopardy again with civil war, but I intend to bring what mechs I can rally to help the NKI cause."_

"_You mean mechs who ducked out of service, or weren't allowed as punishment." Commented Jazz. Optic narrowing at Jazz, Shockwave turned back to Optimus, saying: "Punishment for making a mistake centuries ago by joining Megatron in his fruitless warmongering. Consider this their chance at redemption."_

_Optimus stood up, and walked to his office's window, staring out at the cityscape of New Iacon. The city was repaired from the attacks during the Varya assault once more, and even the reconstructed Allspark had been better defended, fortified and hidden much more thoroughly, but still tapped in its near unlimited energies. Far above, the transparisteel dome, and other domes, covering sections of the city, trapped a layer of standard atmosphere for organics, but was harmless to the mechs and femmes._

_Turning, Optimus gave the cycloptic mech a hard look, studying him. The mech was still a threat physically, and held a cold, ruthless logic that set him apart from other mechs, be it former Autobot, former Decepticon or even current Neutral. But it was that same logic that Optimus thought would stop Shockwave from taking the self destructive path his brother took so many millennia before._

_Nodding his head, Optimus granted Shockwave his statement: "Shockwave, I feel that your proposal is a sound one. As a military force, the punished Decepticons have stayed idle for too long, particularly in this war. But they're presence in the military would undoubtedly cause unrest among our kind."_

"_Which is why I am allowing you're recruitment to go ahead, as rapidly as you can manage with our promotion, on the condition that you're forces are not ever used to attack Cybertronian or UIP targets, and that you ensure their cooperative behaviour should they get out of line."_

_Shockwave clicked in acknowledgement, and commented: "I can keep a few unruly grunts in line. Such minds are easy to tame and hone, I just guide them in the right direction."_

_Soundwave spoke now, with Ravage tucked away inside his chest, and Laserbeak perched on his shoulder, looking between the mechs with an intuitive glare: "Recruitment is underway already. Recruits agreed to join the NKI number at 900 at present. Additional campaigning required for sufficient numbers." The statement was directed in general, but Shockwave detected a hidden text message to his communicator, stating simply that the details and requirements to procure more recruits was best not discussed here._

_Within the next 20 minutes, the meeting was adjourned, and Shockwave, Soundwave and his minicon menagerie made their way out._

_Behind them, Prowl questioned Optimus, as the Prime stood ruefully at his office window: "Can we trust them? Did we just allow a resurgence of the Decepticons?"_

"_While it is common knowledge of Shockwave's past role with the Decepticons, it would be foolish not to offer him some assistance. The NKI is a more flexible military system than the UIP is, despite its smaller size. If we can occupy the mechs and femmes limited from service as punishment with a role in the NKI, it could also appease them, as well as grant Shockwave a Cybertronian task force within the NKI. It will show our support of the group determined to bring about an end to the war, without one side succumbing to the other. Changing the leadership of the Alliance's more aggressive species will help end the war on peaceful terms." Optimus stated._

_Seeing no argument, Jazz simply headed to his other duties in the New Iacon government offices, saying: "Well that 'con and his followers better not mess with the way things are. That's the last thing we need."_

"_Treachery is not common for Shockwave unless he deems the path he follows at the time to be illogical. Here he proposed it, and he would not propose something illogical. I don't think we'll get any trouble from him at least." Prowl commented. Optimus let loose a hiss of his cooling jets, a sigh in his kind, and said one last thing before returning to his other duties: "My hope is that Shockwave can control those he recruits completely. Some of the people available for him are unstable and volatile."_

**28th September 2901**

**New Cybertron, New Kaon.**

There was a gathering of volunteers, or at least ones representing entire groups of volunteers, in one of the larger courtyards, atop a suspended walkway section between 2 large skyscrapers.

Shockwave stood at the edge of the group, surveying the sight of those who had come forwards. With Soundwave already inside, collecting information and a role call, Shockwave took it upon himself to identify certain individuals.

He recognized some former Decepticons right away, including Barricade, a former high ranking assassin and scout, and the large twins Blackout, the darker coloured one, and Grindor, the lighter coloured, larger twin, both of them heavy soldiers and once loyal shock troopers to Megatron. Also seen was the easily identifiable red colour of Knockout, former Decepticon medic,, if such a term existed, and his trusty partner Breakdown, a larger, blue mech with a short temper.

Several other high ranking former Decepticons included Brawl, a former weapons specialist, Bonecrusher, a former heavy soldier with a hatred for just about anything, and a pair of seekers, one a mech, Dreadwing, a competent warrior with a conniving, but honour bound mind, and a femme, Slipstream, known for her fiery temper in battle and swooping in on her targets like some aerial predator.

To Shockwave's surprise, he saw some new mechs and femmes in the crowd, all of them from generations born after the Allspark was reconstructed. He had not expected any civil war generation Autobots or their immediate descendants to turn up, but it was satisfying to know that not just former Decepticons supported Shockwave's incentive to form a Cybertronian attack force for the NKI to use.

But he could swear that some of those recruits he saw in the throng of the crowd were descended from former Autobots, and current UIP Cybertronian recruits. The blue optics were usually a giveaway, as red optics were mostly implemented as a mark of Decepticon identity during the war, unless undercover, though a few Decepticons had had natural red optics, while others did not. Likewise, not all autobots had had Blue optics, just the overwhelming majority.

Shockwave could sense the anticipation among the crowd gathered, numbering 2200 in total, though a two hundred of them spoke on behalf of entire groups. Casting his large red optic over the crowd, Shockwave identified numerous mechs or femmes associated with mercenary bands or criminal gangs.

Around the walkway courtyard there were some guards posted, New Kaon city security, 4 on each of the 4 walkways leading to the suspended plaza. Beyond them, several hundred protestors had turned up, predicable with any controversial gathering in public. And this was certainly controversial, the Decepticons reborn.

Or that was what it seemed to be in the public eye. Such a simple view was a misconception.

Making his way through the crowd, Shockwave noted how silence began to fall as his large grey and purple frame parted the crowd, and with most of the mechs and femmes being shorter than he was, he was dominant in reputation and figure.

Reaching the centre of the plaza, Shockwave stood on top of the raised section, several camera feeds linking to holoscreens across the plaza, and being broadcast on certain news channels across the planet. Mandibles clicking in anticipation, Shockwave nodded to Soundwave, who uttered the word: "Silence!"

The crowd fell quieter, and beyond them only the sounds of roaring and yelling protestors in the distance detracted from the attention Shockwave wielded:

"Welcome mechs and femmes! You all know why you are here, and while I can say that I do not recognize all of you from my, questionable past, I see you all standing here as one gathering of mistreated or eager individuals, wanting to make a stand for the end of the war. While the UIP fights on behalf of us as a race, and the other races, we ourselves face a choice: To stand back and let them fight, waiting for our end to come as the UIP fractures under the relentless onslaught of the Dreadnought raids, or to unite, and join a faction that can direct us on the offensive!"

The crowd roared, and further back, Soundwave and Shockwave both noted a slight drop in the vocalization and anger of the protestors. Continuing, Shockwave roared his speech, his logic and ruthless demeanour giving him a booming precedence over the entire plaza:

"Like the Autobots before, the UIP focuses on peacefulness, and is often unwilling to act in the ruthless manner that is required to ensure victory in times of struggle! While the defence of the worlds against the Dreadnoughts and previous attacks by the Alliance has been admirable, it has been more often than not devoid of measurable victory as of late these past 2 years! What this war needs, in a time when the Alliance abandons all dignity, all sense of restraint, and actively seeks the decimation of all races besides their own, is a decisive force, one willing to go beyond merely defending, one that will strike with crushing brutality against the Alliance!"

The crowd was getting really excited now, but some faces could be seen to be unsure, namely the newer generations. Shockwave decided to address principle groups in the supporters:

"I speak now to those among the crowd who were once members of the Decepticon faction. Though our reputation now bears the stains of our past choices for our former leader, under whose tyrannical leadership we were falsely led into decimating our own homeworld, I say this! Being a Decepticon in the past is a mark of what is needed to strike back at the Alliance, to plunge yourself into the heart of enemy territory, to strike at the very core of the enemy, and to show them the true might of our race! While our anger, immorality and selfishness among many of ourselves was our downfall in the war, we were a proud, powerful faction! I move to revive the Decepticons, but not to enact pointless civil war for power, but to act as the fist of the Cybertronian race! If the Autobots were shield, then we Decepticons were the blade! And we shall join the NKI, leave the defence of our world and allied worlds to the UIP, while we embark out, and strike at the very heart of the Alliance! If they do not submit to our power, to which unconditional surrender would result, than we will demonstrate the power of our race! They claim to be more advanced than us, but we shall show them otherwise! Step forth, join my force, my syndicate of the NKI, and we shall make the Alliance tremble at our power, make them submit to our dominance! They have proven that until they are put in their place, the only language they understand is violence! To which I ask, if given the chance, would you reciprocate!?"

The plaza trembled with the roars of the crowd, drowning out any roars or chanting of the protestors. His voice still carrying over the crowd, Shockwave added: "And to those newcomers, perhaps descended from Autobots, I say that I bear no grudges, and as such, no others in my syndicate should. I see Decepticons here, but I see them as merely labelled individuals who used their gift of ruthlessness and determination for the wrong reasons. All of you, Decepticons or newcomers, I see in your optics the same look, of a desire to strike back at the Alliance, to demonstrate the power that is Cybertronian, and to show the Alliance that they do not rule this galaxy, or us! To those concerned about reputation, of allying with a force comprising of many former Decepticons, and those whose creators or friends might be ashamed to know you if you align yourself with me, then think of the war. Think about the fires still raging on systems across UIP space, Pandora, Keletari, Rothrian, Jarune, Karal'tai, and many others. Think of the Dreadnought that heads this way, the attacks on other worlds, and of the limited hope that a UIP defence holds against the Dreadnoughts, and ask yourself, does honour matter when you stand in the ruins of entire worlds, and the dead surround you because you hesitated!?"

The roars of the crowd could be heard across the nearby city blocks now, and over the booming roar, Shockwave raised his right arm cannon in triumph, and declared loudly: "To those willing to step forwards, and to receive your mark of my NKI syndicate, know that you take the steps that are required to make the Alliance truly understand the force they are dealing with! Now make your preparations and farewells, and prepare for our departure! Time is short, the Dreadnought is due in tomorrow, as is an NKI fleet for retaliation and our transport to the Alliance territory! To Decepticons and all others, to the ruthless division of Cybertronian society that will strike crippling blows repeatedly to the Alliance, I command you to rise up against this force that dares oppress us and our race! TRANSFORM AND RISE UP!"

Nodding to Soundwave, Shockwave raised both arms in his dominance of their support, and knew then and there that he had their support. Soundwave stood by as impassively as ever, no less intimidating than he ever was during the Civil war.

The Decepticons had returned for the first time in centuries, and began growing more and more overnight. And this time it was Shockwave, Megatron's second in command, at the helm.

As the news of the Decepticons resurgent with other support spread, the UIP became unnerved, but somehow relieved. The Decepticons, while they were now pointed in a war beneficial direction, they still brought back bad memories or history. But in this time of crisis, such ruthless factions were a necessary evil to survive.

As the fires on Pandora and Keletari began to simmer, it was on New Cybertron, where the UIP waited to defend, where the 2 Alliance Dreadnought fleets headed to attack, and where the NKI forces focused their next, and largest offensive at. A firestorm began to brew, heading to the planet. But simultaneously, a new fire was rising from the depths of the rogue planet, a fire thought extinguished centuries before.

A fire that would seek to rage across those it sought to destroy, and to break the Alliance's will to wage war.

**29th September 2901**

**New Cybertron, orbit.**

Dropping out of FTL, a single Frigate flew at a rapid sublight speed towards the rogue planet, the outline visible by the lights of cityscapes, and the black outline where it blocked the light from the stars behind it. Despite the dark nature of the planet, it was still visible, and eerily beautiful.

But to the UIP fleet surrounding it, such beauty was second concern, compared to the incoming threat. But the Frigate was not the threat, it was merely being semi pursued by one of the two Dreadnought fleets on route. By protocol, the fleet's lead ship, a large fighter carrier, measuring 2100 metres long, responded to the message being sent from the Frigate.

Over the video screen, the face of a scarred male Human and an also scarred female Kro'nogri appeared on screen, standing at a bridge, where a skeleton crew scrambled around them. The human spoke first:

"**This is Alex Hunter of the New Knight Initiative, aboard the NKI Frigate Dawnbreaker! Is anyone reading this frequency!? We have been attacked by one of the incoming Dreadnoughts, and we only just slipped away! Request immediate confirmation and permission to allow an incoming NKI strike fleet to offer assistance!"**

The carrier's captain responded over the video link: "Dawnbreaker you are clear. Repeat the last part of your statement, an NKI strike fleet is coming to offer assistance?"

The Kro'nogri female now spoke: **"We dispatched the fleet to strike back at the Dreadnought attacks 2 weeks ago! We've discerned several small weaknesses that can be exploited to use them."**

"Who are you?" Asked the captain.

"**My name is Sha'krii Herensk, leader of the NKI, and if you do not let us bring in this fleet, this world shall suffer. Kal'sik has dispatched 2 Dreadnoughts to counter the comparably superior defences of this world compared to other worlds, and even with New Cybertron's defences and your fleet, unless you have what we can bring, casualties will be very high. We just arrived from Alpha Centuari, and we saw what Kal'sik did to those planets."**

A ringing minute of silence echoed through the Dawnbreaker's bridge, until finally a call came in: **"Dawnbreaker, you and your incoming fleet is cleared. We will designate your ships as friendly. Proceed to meet with the fleet, and good luck to you, and I say on behalf of all of us that we could use all the help we can get."**

With the communications off, the Dawnbreaker was already flying to the drop in point for the NKI dreadnought fleet. On the bridge, Sha'krii asked Alex: "Do you think this will work? Using a Dreadnought against them?"

"We'll have the element of surprise, and we'll go all out from the start. No more mercy, no honour binding judgement. It's them or us. And I refuse to flee from this battle under any circumstance until at least one of Kal'sik's Dreadnoughts is in pieces."

"You and me both Hunter." Sha'krii said. Looking to the display, Sha'krii studied the reports coming from the planet: "And it also looks like Shockwave's rallying of an all Cybertronian force for our use later was a success of sorts. We have near 3000 Cybertronians, nearly half of them former Decepticons, available to use. We just have to get them transported."

Glad that at least one thing had gone right, Alex said to his organization's leader: "The transport ships that are coming with the fleet could get at least a large portion of those Cybertronians to where we need them, into Alliance space. As long as we keep the Dreadnought fleets busy."

**30 minutes later**

The cityscape defence shields were up, and the UIP fleet was mobilized. Roughly fifty thousand kilometres away, one approaching at a different heading than the other, 2 Dreadnought fleets closed in on New Cybertron.

A total of 2 Dreadnoughts, 4 Battleships, 10 Cruisers, 16 Destroyers, 20 Frigates and 20 corvettes, along with 8 heavy transport cruisers, all of them bearing the Alliance insignia, made their way towards the Cybertronian home world.

Almost instantly, the scanners detected a handful of 1 metre long cylinder objects approaching, heading planetside at an incredible speed from the Dreadnoughts. They were confirmed to be launched shells, a pre emptive strike.

With fifty thousand kilometres between them and the planet, the shells took a full 3 minutes to reach within 50 miles of the defending fleet. But such time was enough for the fleet to act. With precision guidance from auto targeting computers, the fleet concentrated their point defence laser fire on the shells.

One by one, the shells were melted, and the antimatter inside them lost suspension, and annihilated with the containers inside. Each equal to a 80 kiloton blast, the shells exploded, the nearest shell detonating a relatively safe 7 miles from one of the defending UIP fleet ship squadrons.

As the bright explosions died down, the UIP defensive fleet set up attack patterns, running broadside and bow mounted guns to aim for the Dreadnoughts mainly. Though the UIP fleet actually slightly outnumbered the normal Alliance ships, the 2 Dreadnoughts and their complement of fighters and bombers swayed the odds way in their favour.

Within a few minutes, with the Dreadnoughts withholding using the main weapon shells until they had a clear shot at the surface of the planet without laser fire prematurely detonating them, the UIP fleet became drawn into a long range firefight. It was a steady, slow fight by Dreadnought battle standards, but the Dreadnought fleets just kept coming.

As fighters poured from the bays of Alliance and UIP ships alike, the UIP fleet Admiral wondered where the promised NKI reinforcements were.

A few thousand kilometres from the UIP fleet, but in a high orbit around New Cybertron, the Dawnbreaker hung in cloaking, having received communications that NKI vessels would begin to come into space near them. Unfortunately it would be a trickle of vessels at first, a pair or three of ships each time, until the main vessel arrived.

On the command bridge, Alex looked over the command consoles, and made his decision to take direct control of the vessel. Moving to the pilot's chair, Alex ordered: "I am taking control of this ship for the duration of the battle, you are to go to your secondary posting."

"I'm sorry Commander Hunter, but I can't do that without knowing if you have proper training on this type of ship." Responded the male Leg'hrul pilot, one of 7 crew left on the ship. Gripping his wing, Alex pulled him out of the chair, and as he sat down, he said: "I've studied this ship and many of its class, as well as practiced with many different ship types in simulators. Plus, I was once an expert pilot in the UIP. Now go to a weapons station, and prepare for any attack."

With a quick salute, the pilot ran to a gunnery station, on the lower floor, ducking around Sha'krii as she entered the bridge. Noting Alex's pilot position, she stated: "The first ships are inbound, 2 Frigates, and a Destroyer, one of your own actually, Alex."

"About time I got it back under my control." He responded as he saw the familiar Destroyer, one of 3 he controlled, and 2 NKI controlled military frigates, drop out of FTL on scanners, just 200 kilometres from them.

**20 minutes later**

20 minutes in, and by now the firefighting between the UIP fleet and the Twin Dreadnought force had grown in ferocity. Fighters and bombers flew around UIP and Alliance ships, or weaving in the space between the engaged fleets. With the extra ships, the UIP were cutting shells and missiles out of space with point defence lasers, sparing them from the worst of the attack so far.

Further away, one UIP destroyer had withdrawn to oversee the NKI fleet arriving. By now a dozen heavily armed cargo frigates, measuring 600 metres long, had headed down to the planet surface, to begin extracting the forces that Shockwave had managed to rally. The pickup point was New Kaon, one of the two most heavily defended areas of New Cybertron.

Hanging in orbit, 4 Destroyers had so far arrived, along with 5 Frigates, 3 Cruisers, and 2 Battleships. 2 of the destroyers were of Alex's KI remnant fleet, as were 2 of the cruisers and 1 of the battleships, the Liberator.

The situation changed when scans showed a portion of the Alliance fleet beginning to head in their direction.

Sha'krii opened up a comm channel to all NKI ships, and to the nearby UIP destroyer, as the last 5 ships were about to drop out of FTL:

"**Its time we balance the odds a bit. The Alliance has had an advantage for too long."**

Aboard the Liberator, the Dawnbreaker had hooked up briefly with the Liberator to drop off Firi'sry, and had accepted Kirth and La'kias back on board. Alex and Sha'krii however remained aboard.

Still on the former KI battleship, all the 'officers' of the NKI looked out the viewport, as the space a few dozen kilometres warped slightly for a brief moment. Then, they appeared.

First, 2 destroyers and 2 cruisers, all of them from the mercenary armies of the Underworld Guild, the criminal empire secretly controlling much of the Alliance's black market in the desperate times it had fallen under.

But the last ship to arrive changed the face of the entire battlefield.

The massive silhouette of the pirated Dreadnought, now named _Vengeance_, filled the space above the planet. Bristling with weapons, not all the same as another Dreadnought, but just as strong, the ship was almost a planet's worth of weaponry all in one.

And it was here for one purpose only: To destroy as much of the Alliance fleet as it could.

"**NO!" **Yelled Kal'sik over his communications link with his dreadnoughts. Currently in the Rothrian system, the Kro'nogri warlord was livid at the sight of the pirated dreadnought being used against him.

"**They will pay for this impudence. I will tear through that ship over seeing it in their hands for much longer. Just as I will tear their precious New Cybertron apart."**

The NKI had done it now.

The prospect of a Dreadnought aiding the UIP was the morale boost needed in the face of 2 opposing dreadnought fleets. UIP crews were reinvigorated, and fought with greater valour.

On the Liberator, the UIP people stared, gobsmacked, at what the NKI had pulled off:

"No, way." Mouthed Lanver. He had recovered from Alex's emergency 'surgery' with Krith and Jarothes, and thought he was still under the effects of the anaesthetic.

Beside him, Krith and Jarothes smiled to one another, knowing that their chances were much better now.

Sru'sky and Trion cheered at the sight, as the Dreadnought immediately began to advance on the Alliance fleet with its accompanying ships. Quirinth commented loudly: "Now I am impressed. An asshole and traitor he might be, but Alex and his cronies and superiors pulled this out of the bag when we needed it."

Firi'sry was apprehensive, and thought to herself about the implications of a Dreadnought versus two Dreadnoughts. It was still against them in terms of odds, but at least things were better now.

But like all battles, things would get much worse before they got better.

**So what do you guys think so far? Comment or review and let me know, and flamers aren't welcome, nor abusers. Constructive criticism, within justifiable reason, is welcomed.**


	24. Chapter 24

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 24: Firestorm part 2, Marauder.**

**29th September 2901**

**New Cybertron orbit.**

In the midst of a large scale space engagement, standard procedure was to organize a broadside firing line, or align the larger ships so that their bow mounted weapons could attack with volleys of mass accelerator slugs, heavy turbolaser fire or heavy missile attacks.

In the case of an engagement with multiple dreadnoughts, shared between the two fleets, such tactics seemed to be thrown away in favour of a more chaotic approach.

The sudden arrival of the NKI aligned Dreadnought had caught the 2 Alliance Dreadnought fleets off guard completely. In the space of a few minutes, the NKI Dreadnought _Vengeance _had unleashed a rapid volley of heavy EMP warheads and a barrage of particle disintegrator missiles, coupled with a set of three 2 Megaton antimatter warheads. The barrage was aimed mainly at the closer Dreadnought, named the _Laisuru _[named after a famous Supervolcanic eruption on the Kro'nogri homeworld of Tarihhis 400 years ago].

The EMP warheads overloaded the shields and many of the targeting systems of the Dreadnought, leaving it crippled as the volley of particle disintegrator missiles tore into its starboard hull, seeming to devour the ship as entire sections of the ship's 30 metre thick armour sections, the largest sections, were ripped apart on a molecular level. The antimatter explosions delivered the latter half of the one two punch, as the blast force shattered many bulkhead sections on the ship's hull, and damaged a large portion of the interior structure.

The second Dreadnought, named the _Iri'larn _[Named for a famous asteroid strike that destroyed half of one of the Leg'hrul's earliest colonies], was less damaged, on purpose. Only a few EMP warheads were targeted at the second ship, enough to briefly overload the ship's shields, but nothing more. No other systems were damaged from the strike, but it left the Dreadnought with its first line of defence gone. Only its fighters, weapons and armour remained. An improvement, but still a formidable enemy ship to contend with.

By now a single NKI Dreadnought fleet, comprised of a pair of NKI Battleships, the Liberator included, 5 Cruisers, 6 Destroyers, 5 Frigates, including the Dawnbreaker, and currently heading to pick up Shockwave's new Decepticon cause recruits, 12 cargo frigates, stood against the Alliance. Backing it with much support was the rallied UIP defence fleet, comprising of 2 Carriers, 4 Battleships, 6 Cruisers, 8 Destroyers, 8 Frigates, and 16 corvettes.

The Alliance had been temporarily crippled by the Dreadnought's ambush, but were quickly recovered. The Dreadnought Laisura had been almost cut in half, but even with half its weapons gone, no shields and missing much of its fighter armada, it still posed a great threat. The other Dreadnought, the Iri'larn, had only been affected by a few hits taken when its shields had been overloaded, the only real damage indicator being that its shields took longer to regain stability after a volley of heavy fire. The accompanying fleet was smaller, as the Alliance's muscle had been the Dreadnoughts, and merely comprised of only 2 Battleships, 4 Cruisers, 8 Destroyers, 8 Frigates and 12 corvettes.

Within a few minutes, the two fleets had engaged one another, fire exchanged over hundreds, sometimes thousands of kilometres, as the two massive armadas fought tooth and nail over the dark Rogue planet of New Cybertron, its only light sources the large glowing masses of the cities.

Fortunately for the planet, the Dreadnoughts had only managed to dispatch half of their Fortress units to the planet surface, as the other half were destroyed before or during planetfall.

And against the might of the Cybertronian race, even the Fortresses were in trouble.

**New Kaon city, 3 hours 30 minutes after NKI dreadnought arrival**

Being the sight of an NKI operation, the Fortresses had sent a large portion of their units to attack the city of New Kaon.

Like its predecessor city's nature however, New Kaon rose up to attack, just as Kaon had when the civil war began millennia before.

"We need the city's defence cannons online now!" Yelled Long Haul.

"Energon is already being diverted, the cannons need a micro cycle [1 minute] to charge!" Replied Scrapper.

Even though they had once been Decepticons, the Construction mechs, once again calling themselves the Constructicons in honour of the Decepticon resurgence under Shockwave, had long ago been allocated the jobs of maintaining the baseline infrastructure of New Kaon, including power, energon reserves and defensive infrastructure. As such, bringing the city's heavy blaster cannon turrets online to target the Fortresses fell to them.

Long Haul stomped over to the balcony area, the large Green mech making a small jump down to the next level. He stomped over to the comm monitors, where Soundwave had contacted them about the status of the turrets:

"**Long Haul, request update on operational status of city defence turrets."**

"They're coming up Soundwave, the energon's flowing, but give them a micro cycles and they'll be ready to fire. The NKI cargo ships can then come in when the cannons start blasting those oversized drones to atoms."

"**Acknowledged, Soundwave out."**

Back on the upper levels of the city, Soundwave cut the comm link to the defence mainframe room, just as Laserbeak flew in and landed on his shoulder armour, hissing in irritation:

"The Fortresses are closing in. They have breached the exterior organic habitation shielding, and are advancing on the city's outskirts. They are deploying shock troops from inside their holds, to attack smaller areas."

Coldly noting this fact, Soundwave signalled to the avian scout to fly over and give accurate scans of the shock trooper regiments, so that dispatched local security and available Decepticons could take them out. It was Kro'nogti and Leg'hrul vs a 100% Cybertronian defence force. It was too easy, but the shock troops could still inflict damage to infrastructure or civilians.

As Laserbeak flew off to perform his recon task, Soundwave transformed, his recon spacecraft form flying quickly to the designated aerospace port, where Shockwave awaited with the Decepticon force, as the NKI shuttles were expected to arrive there.

20 miles away from the designated landing zone, the most forward Fortress stumbled on its 6 legs, as laser fire and plasma rounds cut into its limbs. The advanced technology of the Cybertronians meant that heavy jamming and EMP weaponry wreaked havoc with the targeting systems and shield generator stabilization software of the Fortresses.

On the ground, Alliance shock troopers poured out of the trooper holds of the Fortress, the Kro'nogri dropping down on grapple hooks while the Leg'hrul glided down on their own wings. They came as soldiers of doom, but quickly found themselves pinned down by the superior firepower of the troops.

Without the orbital dominance of the Dreadnought fleet, the Alliance ground forces were in a bind.

Up in a nearby skyscraper, a post civil war generation cybertronian, a young, lanky orange mech with a narrow, arrow shaped face, spoke into the comm device in his head as he fired off another rocket from his carried rocket launcher:

"They're pressing forwards slowly! But then other Fortresses are coming in behind them! Things are OK so far, but we could really use those turrets before the others arrive!"

"**Cool your vents slaghead! The Constructicons just called it in, the city turrets should be online and firing in about 20 nanoclicks [20 seconds]."**

Slightly relieved by his commanding officer's response, his commander being the notable former Decepticon shock trooper femme, Strika, the mech lined up another shot with his rocket launcher.

He quickly ducked away as a few stray shots from a group of Alliance troopers fired at his balcony position, a few of them hitting his shoulder armour. The mech decided that now was the time to change his position for a clear shot.

Seconds later, the turrets finally opened fire.

The Fortresses had just begun to clear their path with heavy fire, even if they were not being as effective in their attacks in inflicting casualties as normal. Their fire targeted mainly buildings and bridges, as the UIP and Cybertronian troopers and assault vehicles were stationed around the path of the Fortresses, funnelling them in on their intended path towards the Decepticon extraction aerospace port.

The lead Fortress turned its main weapons, its concussion warhead missile launchers, towards a large building to its left, where a platoon of Cybertronian shock troopers had taken up firing position. Charging its other weapons, the Fortress took aim.

A volley of heavy turbolaser fire tore through its shields and into its rear leg, the stumbling caused by the attack sending the concussion missile skywards, in a useless direction.

Without the superior firepower they were accustomed to, the Fortresses, the 300 metre tall monstrosities of war, were crumbling, and coming crashing to the ground under the sheer power of the defensive turrets, weapons intended for attacking targets in space.

The battle against the Fortresses and their accompanying troopers would last only another 4 hours, most of it fighting from resilient Alliance troopers after the Fortresses had succumbed to the sheer firepower.

But in that time, the Decepticons would be extracted.

Off in the distance, the flares and flashes of light from the turrets tearing the groundside Fortresses apart could be seen from the aerospace port.

On the steel landing platform area, Shockwave impassively watched as the 3rd of the NKI cargo frigates began to take off, full of his rallied Decepticon and volunteer forces. The cargo frigates had been empty, so the force had taken it upon themselves to take aboard anything they needed, including energon reserves, synthetic energon generators, spare parts and materials.

The aerospace port still needed to fully load another 9 of the cargo frigates, but with the Fortresses being dealt with efficiently, and the Alliance dreadnought fleets fully occupied, there would be little trouble with getting the 12 Decepticon laden cargo frigates safely into Alliance territory.

To Shockwave's view, he had been moderately successful, as he had in total, before and after his little 'rally' in New Kaon's plaza, he had rallied a total of nearly 5000 Cybertronians to the NKI cause. The ones that attended on behalf of entire groups had included mercenary group leaders, criminal leaders who could hire mercenaries, and simple criminal gangs composed of former Decepticons, a fair few that Shockwave knew from history.

As a mellow roar sounded overhead, Shockwave was simultaneously displeasured and satisfied to see who had turned up. A Seeker, leading a whole pack of other seekers, two of whom bore a visual resemblance to him.

"Former Air Commander Starscream". Shockwave noted. The sycophantic seeker and his fellow seekers, loyal or not, had arrived.

"Oh Shockwave, how fitting to be reunited under the colours of our former leader."

"Megatron's foolish ways are not to be mentioned. These Decepticons I have rallied are intended, and ordered, to fight with the same spirit as they once did, with alterations to their intentions in fighting."

"How fitting that the organics came grovelling to us. We can show them how to really wage a war." From the back, a confident, and sneering femme seeker sounded her comment. Starscream responded: "Be quiet Slipstream. Shockwave is in charge here, a serious misjudgement on Megatron's part in making him second in command."

"I was tasked with watching Cybertron while Megatron fought offworld, until I assigned myself to search for him myself."

"Yes, after which you were eventually imprisoned by the humans when you landed, until Megatron and I eventually freed you from your icy prison, after which your first useful task was a failed attempt to obtain that component from the Ark in that ancient power plant at the human settlement of Chernobyl. How is it Megatron let a failure like you be second in command, when I proved myself more suited to the task?"

"Starscream, you are repeating a story we have heard many times over the past few hundred stellar cycles. Give our audio receptors a break." Thundercracker commented, rubbing his head in an annoyed manner. Beside him, Skywarp suppressed a giggle, until two sights made him quiet.

Shockwave had clenched his left hand, the metal grinding slightly, as his eye contracted in mildly displayed anger. Behind him, Soundwave moved behind them, catching Skywarp's eye seeing both himself and Shockwave's expression.

"Be quiet yourself Thundercracker! I am head of the Seekers! I should be in charge here!"

The double meaning of the words was well received.

Shockwave laid his right arm cannon's barrel mussel calmly against Starscream's shoulder, and said in a low tone: "Your authority is nothing next to mine Starscream. Remember this fact, because-" Shockwave's cannon charged slightly, causing Starscream to flinch back, until Shockwave's left hand shot out and pressed him back against the cannon's muzzle. Shockwave finished his statement with a rumbling hiss, his red optic a mere metre from Starscream's quivering face, his own 37 feet height towering over Starscream's measly 31 feet: "You are merely one seeker, and I see another 5 behind you. A sixth of this squad being executed will hardly impact my Decpeticon force."

Letting Starscream go, Shockwave ordered Soundwave: "Escort them aboard their allocated cargo frigate. I shall oversee the last loading of my force."

"Yes Shockwave." Soundwave said, as he began to herd off the seekers to a nearby cargo frigate, a shaken Starscream included.

Nearby, as Shockwave moved off, Barricade nudged Brawl and pointed out to him, Blackout, Brawl and Grindor: "Shockwave just put Starscream in his place."

Blackout rumbled: "That seeker deserves it for his impudence. Shockwave is doing well as our leader if he has already settled that matter for now."

Alongside the numerous Decepticons and volunteer mechs and femmes under Shockwave's command, the UIP decided that this was an ideal opportunity to send in advanced combat units, platoons of highly trained soldiers and the best equipment. They were small, but effective military units, in total a mixture of the organic UIP races.

The importance of Shockwave's convoy into deep Alliance space, possibly the homeworlds, was a tantalizing opportunity for a counter strike against the Alliance for the Dreadnought raids, such that the combat teams sent to hitchhike with Shockwave's army of mechs and femmes were given more advanced, and effective equipment, and top secret plans with it. Though the plans were guaranteed to not interfere with the operations of the NKI in ending the war, rather, they would greatly help them if successful.

The combat teams were known about by the highest members of the UIP government relevant to the war effort, including the military, central government and UIP Central Intelligence Bureau. Their orders came straight from the top.

And only each team knew their one orders, nothing else until they got to their designated worlds. For now, they were told to sit tight and wait until the Cybertronian forces had likely demolished the interior defences of each of their targets deep in Alliance space.

One such team had the luxury of being given orders from the highest UIP offices, and given top secret equipment to do their job. Though survival rate was low, they were unmarked on records, and were fiercely loyal to their superiors and the orders they had been given.

Among the teams sent, Kai'tala team was given such high orders, and the likelihood was that most of them would not come back alive. But they were determined to not let that stop the mission they had been given.

If Zoran sent them deep into Alliance space on his own orders direct from the UIP president, then it must be not only top secret, but of strategic importance.

**New Cybertron orbit, 4 hours 30 minutes after NKI Dreadnought arrival**

Blasting through the wreckage of the Alliance Dreadnought _Laisura, _Hawk leader led Hawk squadron into another attack run on one of the Alliance cruisers, already damaged in the main engine section and moving at a much slower speed.

The first Alliance dreadnought had been destroyed, mainly by its crippling blow from the NKI Dreadnought's ambush very early in the fight. Within 4 hours, the Dreadnought had been reduced to a blazing, crumbling ruined hulk of a dreadnought, no longer able to fight back at even the strength of a cruiser. With the reactor in critical, and to avoid a catastrophic detonation of the power core and antimatter warheads, the warhead material had been vented, jettisoned to drift apart into much smaller loads, detonating at harmless, yet still large explosions. With no power or effective strength, the Laisura had been abandoned, left to drift.

And it was subsequently used as a form of barricade between some ships in both fleets.

Flying through the field of debris, Hawk leader commanded his squadron to fire EMO missiles at the cruiser's main engine sections. The missiles streaked away, and in 20 they impacted, overloading what remained of the cruiser's shields.

Spurred on, Hawk squadron unloaded a volley of laser beams and mini fusion missiles. The concentrated nuclear explosions and intense light energy seared through the armour, igniting the engines and their fuel reserves. The positron catalysed fusion engines overloaded and detonated as the 20 micrograms of antimatter in the engine fuel pods annihilated, detonating with the force of 8000 pounds of dynamite, ripping the rear section apart.

The 1400 metre long ship was now crippled, its power core dead, and only backup power remaining. Disengaging, hawk squadron turned around, heading back through the debris field of the former menacing Dreadnought Laisura, back to their base of operations, one of the UIP Carrier vessels.

_We're lucky that the 2 remaining Dreadnoughts are occupied with each other. _Mused Hawk leader. The Human was thankful that the NKI had brought in the Dreadnought. With the surprise attack, the Dreadnought count was now equal on both sides. Even if the NKI Dreadnought Vengeance was slightly more damaged than the Alliance Dreadnought _Iri'larn_, the numerical superiority of the UIP conventional fleet ships and NKI ships against the Alliance tipped the balance in their favour.

Far away, dozens of light years from New Cybertron, Kal'sik was furious. Analysing the battlefield on his display monitor in his office quarters, he ordered a new command:

"**New Cybertron is likely to end in failure. Begin a full retreat if the Dreadnought Iri'larn reaches near to critical damage. We cannot lose 2 Dreadnoughts in one battle."**

"**Also, track the frigate Dawnbreaker in the battlespace. Our victory can be salvaged if we capture such a vessel containing multiple high profile NKI officer members, their political and numerous military leaders included."**

Flying the Dawnbreaker with relative skill, Alex dove into the debris field that was once the Dreadnought Laisura. The frigate turned hard to avoid a large piece of bulkhead section floating on the outer edge of the debris field, and began to slow as it immersed itself into the dreadnought's grave site, to hide its signature.

Stepping away from the controls, setting them to auto cruise safely through the field, and to stay in the field, Alex groaned as he leant back against a wall on the bridge. His body still ached somewhat from the battering Kal'sik had inflicted upon him and the others on Pandora, on that volcanic plateau. His arm seemed to burn in pain slightly, he dull ache he now felt there constantly flaring up at the memory of Kal'sik's blade literally reopening an old wound.

Walking off the bridge, Alex quickly counted in his head that there were only 12 aboard this ship now, as much of the crew had been evacuated. His step mother Firi'sry had been lucky to be transported back to the Liberator before the fight started. The Liberator in question had hung back, only exchanging long range fire, and acting as the battle coordinator of the NKI fleets. The fact that the Liberator was a far less dangerous target than the Vengeance let it remain comparatively unnoticed in the fight.

On the ship were himself, Sha'krii Herensk, 8 crew members, all gunners and engineers, and rejoined while Firi'sry had regrouped with the Liberator, Kirth and La'kias had rejoined their ship, and promptly assumed command as protocol commanded. Although, seeing Alex's at least sufficient skill at piloting the ship meant that the pilot had been allocated to the Liberator for safety, meaning one more crew member in a safer place, but still working as a member of the battle from the Battleship Liberator.

With the Frigate currently in stealth within the Dreadnought Laisura wreckage field, relatively immobile, Alex could afford to leave his post to coordinate at the comm. Station on the frigate, where Sha'krii, Kirth and La'kias awaited him anyway.

Undetected within the wreckage, a marauding craft was immobile, concealed within the wreckage of the Dreadnought and the shattered corpses of its fallen likewise machines.

Separated by just 2 kilometres within the wreckage field, the Fortress homed in on the Dawnbreaker's last know position before it cloaked, and prepared a salvo of small launched bombs each, a shot spraying sensor nodes around the blast area, giving readings on the environment around and at where they impact or travel, like sonar on bats.

The warheads were all launched without thrust, just magnetic launchers. Flying into their targeted areas in the wreckage field, they would cover most of the area within the wreckage.

Their standing orders were known by the limited AI in the Fortress, the living crew initially waiting for pickup aboard them and the AI troopers on board also. Orders straight from Kal'sik himself on short notice:

"**Capture the Dawnbreaker, and take any NKI officers as prisoners before we begin a tactical retreat. New Cybertron was a failure with the loss of one Dreadnought, and that failure must be replaced with a strategic victory.**

**Kidnap the officers, alive, for transport back to Alliance space for punishment. Kill the petty crew and destroy the frigate afterwards."**

The lightweight bombs detonated, and the scattershot of sensor nodes spread out in a dust like cloud.

In the comms room of the Dawnbreaker, a series of mild pings on the 3D scanners showed a series of very small 'bursts' of material. The computer judged them to be extra fuel canisters safely detonating, or colliding debris.

The sensor node cloud spread in 2 minutes, and within that time, they impacted objects within the entire debris cloud of the Dreadnought wreckage.

The Fortress, perched on the underside of a massive floating Dreadnought armour and bulkhead segment, sheared away in an internal explosion when the Dreadnought was already abandoned.

As fate would have it be, a few sensor nodes had impacted the shields of the Dawnbreaker, even under cloaking. That impact drew up a faint silhouette of the frigate, on scanners, as it was immobile.

It was enough to send the 300 metre ship firing its thrusters lightly, using the cover of an armour segment it was perched on like a thermal shield from its thrust emissions. If one looked out the Dawnbreaker's windows at the incoming threat, it would appear to be a simply large debris piece heading overhead.

But appearances were not always deceiving to those they intended to fool. At least not entirely.

"You see that? That debris piece, the armour segment from the side of the Dreadnought? It was hit by another piece, but that accelerated for much longer than normal." La'kias pointed to the 3D readout on the sensor display screen in the comms room.

"Your point being?" Asked Sha'krii. She herself was suspicious now that it had been pointed out. The readouts came through from the computers, and no discernable cause for the mildly accelerated, very large section of the Dreadnought's bow section armour's movement was found.

Still suspicious, Kirth ordered over the comm channel for them to up the watch for possible patrols.

Over the holographic display, Alex brought up a schematic of the orbital battle zones, enlarging certain areas as he went. Everything seemed to be going better than expected, with the UIP and NKI fleets faring better than the Alliance escort fleet, many of the Alliance ships having retreated to repair. Though the main reason for the lack of overall damage was due to the concentrated fight between both Dreadnoughts, with fighters and bombers exchanged between them in addition to turbolaser fire and missiles.

The NKI Dreadnought Vengeance had taken less damage than the Alliance Dreadnought Iri'larn, and seemed to be winning. The ambush tactics employed, combined with the loss of the second Dreadnought early on, and New Cybertron's more technologically advanced orbital defences and planetary heavy weapons, meant that the Alliance Dreadnought was losing, but still putting up a fight.

But what was puzzling was why the Alliance fleet hadn't pulled out already, knowing that this battle was lost, and they could salvage their fleet with an early retreat.

All thoughts of the battle vanished when alarms suddenly blared across the ship, and the warning of a massive incoming ship closing within 1 kilometre of the Dawnbreaker.

Scanners showed, and on the screen, ploughing through the debris towards their 500 metre long frigate, having hidden on the large chunk of Dreadnought bow armour, the Fortress closed in, its multiple legs spreading as it readied its weapons to fire, and legs fully extending to become shaped like a giant octopus like creature. As its arms spread, normally a weakness as it exposed more vulnerable areas if unshielded, it accelerated, a series of fusion rockets rocketing the 300 metre long, AI minded machine towards the motionless frigate, still cloaked.

Panic surged, and Alex promptly ran out the door, yelling: "Incoming! We need to get out of here! They'll try to board!" Seeing a passing crewmember, one of the deck officers, the human grabbed the Leg'hrul male, ordering him to assist in coordinating their evasion and possible evacuation.

La'kias ran off to assist in the gunnery stations, while Kirth stood over the holographic monitor, overseeing the upcoming fight. Sha'krii ran to the communications terminal in the same room, sending out a texted emergency message to any NKI ships.

By the time she finished, the Fortress was on the ship.

"ALL HANDS BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

The message was clear, and everyone on the ship held onto something. Even with inertial dampeners, the impact of a Fortress on their ship was not something that could be overcome internally.

On the bridge, Alex had powered up the engines, but the startup from cold was too slow. Strapped into the chair, he knew that the Fortress would send in boarding troops, and they were critically understaffed.

He smashed the shipwide evacuation button as the Frigate was wildly thrown by the impact.

The Fortress smashed into the Frigate, gripping onto the ship with its 6 arms with strong force, not likely to move from its spot. The impact of such a sized object overloaded the particle shields, and with such an electrical overload, the cloaking field failed.

The frigate now exposed, the Fortress fired a stream of laser and railgun fire into the rear engines, blasting chunks off them into space. While crippling the ship, the gargantuan ground unit, as dangerous in space as it was groundside, deployed a boarding tube what could only be described as its 'mouth' area. Slamming into the side of the ship, lined up with the main cargo hold, the edges of the tube glowed bright red as the superheating units on the tube's end began to cut their way into the ship's hull, ready to inject a horde of troops into the ship, and onto the ambushed NKI leadership aboard their leading Frigate.

And this time, Kal'sik mused from light years away, over his temporary connection to the Fortress's AI as he oversaw the attack, they will not escape. But there were some who he would not kill, as they were more valuable alive as prisoners.

Dead they would be martyrs, but captured, they would be moral blows to the NKI, and any future resistance to the rule of Kings Lo'rath and Rho'kis. Whether both agreed or not, as Rho'kis demonstrated previously, to Lo'rath's enragement, this was for the best for the Alliance.

Kal'sik had been determined to serve the Alliance to the point of assuring victory. It seemed that today he could fulfil part of the dream where he crushed resistance to their rule entirely.

**Sorry for the delay, exams, computer troubles, and other problems too numerous to count.**

**So, what do you think so far? Please review and comment on this chapter and story, it would be greatly appreciated. I could really use some form of feedback.**


	25. Chapter 25

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 25: Settling flames, merciless loyalty.**

**29th September 2901**

**New Cybertron orbit, Lai'sura debris field, Dawnbreaker.**

Locked aboard the bridge, Alex scanned over the security feeds with an angry expression. The Alliance troopers were aboard in dozens, nearly 70 or so. With a skeleton crew, and in a confined space aboard the state-of-the-art Alliance frigate, the just over a dozen crew members were quickly rounded up or executed if they showed resistance.

Sha'krii was slumped on the captain's chair, staring at the sealed bulkhead doors of the bridge. The troops were securing the rest of the dozen or so crew and the ship compartments until they came to them. And with the limited weapons they had, compared to the troopers, resistance was guaranteed death.

Over the monitors, conversations came in from some squad leaders, the squads a division of roughly 1 third organic, or Leg'hrul/Kro'nogri soldier, the rest automated infantry units already aboard the Fortress as standard issue for shock trooper attacks:

"**The officers are on the bridge. Orders are to take them alive or dead, Sha'krii however must be alive."**

"**Why alive? We should just kill them all and be done with it." **Asked one Leg'hrul trooper. From behind him, a familiar sight arrived on the screen, a quite large, robotic Kro'nogri, bearing the face that was now associated with the Alliance's new method of war tactics.

Kal'sik walked up, his link remotely controlling the remote platform from light years away, and with one platform in use only, he could focus much more of his processing/concentration of his now Organic/Dreadnought AI hybrid mind into controlling it:

"**Their deaths, or at least Sha'krii's, by my hand might risk a greater series of attacks in Alliance territory, by galvanizing the NKI and their assets, criminal, civilian or treacherous military, into striking harder to avenge their 'martyrs'. Their imprisonment will show that by capturing them, and breaking their spirits after I and the Alliance justice system are through with them, that the NKI is a failure. They will lose hope, and will weaken."**

"**Besides, for Sha'krii Herensk, it might be more beneficial to bring her back to her home. Exile was too good for her, and death is not a suitable punishment for her crimes. Her partners can join her punishment, to increase the guilt she should feel for her crimes, making others suffer because of her desires for power."**

"**Additionally, if any of them escape, or if Sha'krii or a near top ranking NKI officer dies, one among you shall be guaranteed to follow them to the afterlife. Once they are captured, we depart, and destroy the ship from a distance, before regrouping with the Dreadnought Iri'larn for the retreat."**

Shutting the feed off, Alex turned around, summarizing as he crushed part of the chair arm rests with his mechanical grip: "So that's it then. I'm not going to let them take me."

"Don't waste your life to preserve your integrity. While we listened in on Kal'sik speaking to his troops, I have found an escape method that could save lives." Kirth said calmly, though he held a sort of restrained nervousness in his voice.

Kirth nodded, elaborating on his plan: "We use the airlock, and the hard suits, to escape, deactivating any locator tech we have. The thrust from the packs on the hard suits are minimal, and the Fortress is aligned with the ship that we could jump away in a safe direction. If we shut down all but life support, the Fortress couldn't detect us if we managed to get into the debris field. There is enough residual heat from the Laisura's destruction to mask the hard suit signatures."

La'kias saw the time and situation: "There is a drawback. If we all go, then Kal'sik will search for us, and we might all be captured or killed regardless. At most, I'd say only two of us could escape, leaving the other two behind to be captured, and still escape with our lives to be picked up later by a friendly ship."

On screens, the troopers had already massed outside the first of 3 bulkheads sealing off the bridge, hacking their way through the energy shield layer and preparing plasma cutter tools for the actual doors.

Sha'krii was resigned, and was silent for a long time. She merely said: "We've gone beyond negotiation permanently now, unless we somehow reveal Zoran's past. But we need military leadership, expertise. And, and I can't offer that."

"I will not be escaping this ship. I know the Alliance wants me alive, imprisoned in a well watched location, to keep an eye on me. I'll survive, but I won't give in."

"No! You can't do that Sha'krii! You are our leader, the symbolic person whom we've rallied so many forces behind!" La'kias protested. Dismissing the Kro'nogri male's outcry, Sha'krii said: "I can rally hope, that's one thing I've always been good at. And where better than in a place filled with those condemned by the Alliance, now that I think about it. In the meantime, 2 of the 3 of you must find a way to expose Zoran, either yourselves, or draw him out, and hopefully break me out if need be."

Sighing, Sha'krii walked over to a control console, leaning over it, saying: "I'd choose who of you three remains quickly. I could use possible company if we are imprisoned together."

A pregnant silence followed, broken only by the faint hissing beyond the bridge of the Alliance squad starting to burn down the second of three bulkhead doors. Looking around, Alex instantly decided: "Kirth, you are the most experienced in the military among us three. You have to escape."

"I'm flattered, but that still leaves a matter. Which of you two? La'kias I have a sense of familiarity, and our partnership has been refined. However you Alex are more combat capable, despite your younger age."

La'kias mused aloud: "But what is needed, the ability to fight, or strategize?"

"I'll stay. I am more combat capable, like you said Kirth. I could hold myself fine in any imprisonment, no offence intended to you La'kias. But even with your dark matter skills, you are beneath me in combat, but superior in strategy with aged expirience. You go."

La'kias was stunned, and looked at the human, the scarred face of the 23 year old human gaunt, but certain. Nodding, he muttered 'good luck', and began to quickly set up the airlock and hardsuits for him and Kirth.

Sha'krii was ready, and Alex was.

As Kirth and La'kias entered the airlock, the Alliance team now burning the third door, Sha'krii came over with Alex, and handed them a data disk:

"Get this to the other leadership, and distribute the information as requested on the disk. Much is tactical, but some is personal. We might not come back, but there is still a chance of our return."

With those parting words, the airlock shut, and with their signatures as low as possible, the airlock was shut, with Kirth and La'kias drifting off, holographically disguised as floating debris, from the Dawnbreaker.

Behind them, the doors crashed down, and before they could react, the world went black for Sha'krii and Alex as the electro stun attacks hit them in the backs.

**NKI fleet, Liberator, New Cybertron orbit, 2 hours later.**

Found adrift in the destroyed Dreadnought's debris field, after a rapid, and perhaps wise retreat by the remaining Alliance fleet, Kirth and La'kias had been rescued by a NKI shuttle, scouting the area for any traces of the Dawnbreaker. But all they found was a ruined husk of the once proud former Alliance frigate.

On the NKI lead ship, the Liberator, Kirth and La'kias recounted their stories with the same ending:

"After we exited the ship, we last saw Alex and Sha'krii with weapons ready, to attack the boarding party. We don't know anything else, and with the destroyed state of my ship now, I can guarantee that they are no longer there." Said Kirth, himself still downtrodden and angry over the loss of the Dawnbreaker.

La'kias said: "Sha'krii is guaranteed to be alive, they definitely will take her to a high security prison in Alliance space."

"What about Alex? Is he alive?" Asked a meek voice, belonging to a female Leg'hrul, struggling not to let any tears leave her eyes. There was wide concern over this fact, as that human had been an influencing factor in many of their lives.

Off to the side, a group of UIP members overheard the NKI official meeting in the command bridge's communications room, as they lingered in the corridors. Quirinth massaged her healing mandible in mild concern, her caring for the human male still recovering from bad blood previously. A silver mech's holoform, projected by a hovering drone to be the same height as a Na'vi, shared a look of concern that the younger armoured Na'vi woman had, while she grasped her mother's hand in a condolence. Lanver Kones hovered nearest the room, with Krith Lovisk and Jarothes Hutreck, the female Sril'sask and male Grey information experts, former UIP central intelligence bureau experts, shadowing him.

La'kias looked down in a brief display of disappointment, but composed himself: "There were no definite orders to keep any others besides Sha'krii alive. And Kal'sik was leading the boarding party in another large remote synthetic body. We also had no contact with the Dawnbreaker after we left it before its destruction. The honest answer is, we don't know whether Alex is alive or not."

"If he is dead, then it would be broadcast by the Alliance with their list of 'kills' in this fight, as would be if he was captured. We can only wait until that list comes out from their media. The Alliance always liked to ensure war propaganda in their favour is broadcast." Kirth explained.

It was soon decided what to do with the assets the NKI had gathered and brought to New Cybertron.

The Dreadnought and an accompanying fleet would remain stationed in the Pyrol nebula, on the edge of the UIP's galactic arm, ready to deploy to any other areas the Alliance dared attack. With New Cybertron only 20 light years away, resupplying the Dreadnought, and its accompanying 4 Cruisers, 6 Destroyers 4 Frigates, was simple, especially since New Cybertron had received only moderate damage to its surface and cities from battle, much of it structural.

In the meantime, with a standard defence group being dispatched back to regroup with the Solaris star system fleet, by then in total comprising of the former KI's 3 Destroyers, 2 Cruisers and 3 corvettes, the Synthetic dominated base on New Earth would go to ground as much as possible, hiding, and be prepared to lure any possible attackers away from New Earth with false stories of planet locations or hit and run strikes.

The remaining NKI ships, and the former KI Battleship Liberator would be following the newly formed Decepticon fleet back to Alliance space, namely the star cluster around the Dev'ral system, a cluster under the 'influence' of the NKI, and its criminal or defected syndicates.

Any UIP 'refugees' on the NKI ships were to be transferred to a UIP ship, bound for Ki'ristalis. From there they could find refuge or their own way home.

Wandering aboard the Liberator, Sru'sky heard the faint sound of a bottle on a counter top inside a small crew lounge. It was still unusual to see such organic crew sections unused, or converted to synthetic being usage.

Inside, Sru'sky saw the lone female Leg'hrul sitting over the counter, her head face down, beak making it lie slightly sideways, with the bottle resting atop the counter near one of her now limp wing hands. The bottle was half empty.

Beside her, Norstith sat on an adjacent stool, angled to face the seemingly unresponsive Leg'hrul female. Seeing Sru'sky at the door, Norstith said: "My niece is out of it badly, depressive drinking." Norstith looked Se'rie's way as she lightly groaned. Meanwhile, Sru'sky had walked over to the observation window, wondering to herself:

"Why did you do it then? Really?"

"Do what precisely?"

"Why did you carry out the original Knight Initiative, and have Alex as one of your unknowing servants for a time?"

"I never wanted to do it. I was forced to, in order to preserve my remaining family, including Se'rie here. I had already served the Alliance military in secret matters, they saw it as a way to guarantee my loyalty. They imprisoned them, on condition to execute them if I deserted or disobeyed orders. As for Alex, I was ordered to rally up potential disillusioned UIP members to the KI cause, fooling them into thinking of it as a complete 3rd faction, when it was in fact a secret Alliance angled branch. Prisoners of war, captured on missions, were good areas to find them. I found Alex in the prison after his first solo UIP infiltration mission he did into that Alliance comms facility, and like others I was forced to turn, he hated how the UIP seemed to abandon him in this fruitless war." Norstith explained.

Sru'sky understood, and said: "You are all victims as much as those affected by war are? I find that difficult to believe."

Norstith's face, synthetic as it was, scowled at Sru'sky's misunderstanding: "It is not hard to understand, if you see the world in more than 2 different shades, good and evil. Yes we were forced into it, but so were you forced to fight yourself. But did you stop to resist the UIP when you ever carried out an order you disagreed with? People who commit acts of violence, such as many of ourselves carried out before the NKI was created, aren't guiltless as you might think in your simple view. Who would feel worse, a single group of people afflicted by one incident, or the individual forced into committing such acts, and having to live with the guilt. The only way that many of the KI and NKI can perform what evils are necessary to end this war is to enjoy committing them. So in fact, we are more victims than most other people in this war."

Sru'sky was silenced by this revelation, as she had never really put any thought into her views on the other side of the war, even with the seemingly bridging NKI faction. She tentatively asked: "If more evils are needed to end this war, then how can we end this war as quickly as possible, without sacrificing too much of the souls of our races to end it?"

Norstith looked down at Se'rie, her head still down on the table, glass of drink forgotten, dried tear stains below her closed eyes. Looking out the window, Norstith's silence gave her an immediate answer.

The UIP carrier Hevraegal waited in orbit around New Cybertron, watching from afar as the NKI fleet began to vanish into FTL, in their respectively needed directions. The final statement had been that the NKI would lay low more so now, committing to low level strikes, riot inducing in the Alliance, and further leaching the Alliance through the Underworld Guild crime networks for money and even resources.

Aboard the Hevraegal, Firi'sry, Sru'sky, Trion and Lanver were left to be dropped off on their respective worlds, either to a rest, home, or to their active duty requests. Either way, no rest would come easy to them in wake of the attacks by Kal'sik's dreadnoughts.

Pandora was still a wreck in its colonies, as was Keletari even more so. New Cybertron was only subjected to minor damage overall, as the Dreadnoughts had been lacking the element of surprise, their Mass Destruction attacks stopped by carefully orchestrated defence with orbital platforms, and the combined UIP/NKI fleet.

On the upside, unknown to the UIP immediately, Kal'sik had decided to pull back to Alliance territory with the Dreadnoughts, pulling them to the perimeter or Alliance space. He had orders not to carry out any more raids until the Alliance was secured against a predicted uprising risk in its colonies and worlds, and when the Dreadnoughts would receive hardware upgrades.

Even with the horrific damage to the different colonies of each race, and some homeworlds, they could be repaired.

But what couldn't be anticipated was the nature of the next theatre of the war, nor the calm, almost inactive period of time between the homeworld Dreadnought raids, and the next level of the conflict.

**14th October 2901**

**Vaerakin, Leg'hrul Homeworld, Hre'dralk prison.**

Sha'krii's eyes snapped open, and she felt the bonds on her wrists and the collar on her neck, the cold metal pressing and rubbing her scaly wrists and neck, and the metal floor beneath her. She then saw the familiar face looking through the transparent steel window, electronically able to be made into a 2 way mirror.

Trying to stand up, Sha'krii had to nearly leap up to come to a stand, but her frame stumbled backwards under mild dehydration and hunger, and she quickly sat down on a raised metal shelf with some badly padded layers of foam material, her bed she guessed.

Grunting as she sat down, Sha'krii saw Kal'sik speak, the shimmering of his image showing it was merely a hologram:

"**You've caused much trouble for the Alliance Sha'krii Herensk. But not anymore. Here, you face a proper punishment."**

"For a crime I did not commit." Sha'krii breathed sharply. Suddenly, pain wracked her body, as the metal collar she wore with her temporary handcuffs delivered an electric shock.

"**As I said, it has been decided that exile from any world within Alliance jurisdiction space and revoking of your title was not enough, especially in wake of your activities in trying to capture the Kro'nogri throne. So, we leave you here to rot in prison, until the end of your days. You can watch as the Alliance hunts down what members and groups amid the NKI rabble we can locate, until we force them accept that resistance of their kind is useless, and ultimately, suicidal."**

"We still took out one of your Dreadnoughts, and stole one beforehand." Sha'krii snapped, not intimidated at all by this monster's threatening tone over the hologram link.

"**An unexpected turn, but before that mishap, those attacks inflicted more than enough damage than intended against the UIP. I was actually anticipating to lose a Dreadnought or two, particularly in homeworld attacks. It took another Dreadnought, and the defence of the most advanced UIP planet and race, to stop me once. We both know such resources cannot be called on repeatedly."**

"You'd be surprised how determined any race can be when threatened by someone like you and those attacks." Sha'krii said. Her remark earned another shock treatment, and over her low grunts and gasps of pain, Kal'sik commented:

"**Such alignment with the UIP further reinforces your guilt. If you truly were not guilty, you would not associate yourself with such violent races. Instead, you maintain the ties you once used to have your father killed, in order to try and assume power early."**

Seething with rage, Sha'krii glared at the hologram, her gaze penetrating the window, and said with finality: "You are stuck in the past. It was a group of individuals who killed my father, not entire races. You are no better than those ambassadors 16 years ago, you are worse than them. And yet you delude yourself with ideas of loyalty. All I see before me is a coward, who clawed power to stay in favour after previous failures. A failure, who was dedicated to the Alliance to such an extent that he would be willing to raze entire worlds to supposedly 'protect' both our races. I can't persuade you to see my innocence. You are lost Kal'sik."

"**You insist on perpetuating this lie of innocence, even after the loss of all your authority, all your gathered resources and allies. You are stubbornly blind to your own loss, so perhaps a lifetime in this cell will open your eyes to failure. As long as I live, you will never rule anything, except your own personal hell in this cell."**

"Then I will see to it that you are the first one executed should you still be alive when this war ends, even if I have to do it myself."

"**Your threats are as empty as your prison and your future. Now enjoy your stay, and perhaps you will be visited by those who were hurt by your betrayal."**

The hologram faded, and Sha'krii's handcuffs suddenly sprang apart. They were magnetic cuffs, so the cuffs stayed on, but only connected on command. Standing up, Sha'krii saw the small basin near her 'bed', filled with water, and a tray of what looked like cheap nutrient paste.

Her stomach growled, and she saw now that she had been changed out of her armour and clothes from the New Cybertron raid, into what looked like a prison garb, made of stained synthetic material. There was a digital clock above the sealed door, locked from the other side, which read the date. It had been 16 days since her capture.

Diving her head into the basin, Sha'krii drunk all the water, and choked down her nutrient paste. From her low hunger, she figured she had been fed and hydrated as minimally as possible while unconscious.

As the first day stretched by, the cell was as dim as ever, like a constant twilight. With no window, the clock was her only indication of time. Her paste and water arrived twice a day, and she ravenously consumed it.

But as she drifted off to sleep, her thoughts of hatred for Kal'sik still fresh, she was growing increasingly worried for what had become of Alex. Kal'sik had also captured him, but where he was eluded her.

She would not know for many months of the good fortune she had in her cell compared to the human's.

**15th October 2901 **

**Fetal'ra system, Planet Ras'hana, Ral'craz prison.**

Described as an inescapable cesspool, Ral'craz prison was one of the oldest detention facilities in Alliance space.

It was one of the first 10 planets settled by the Kro'nogri's first colonization wave, and after its resource wealth was overtaken by other settled worlds, the colony shrunk, becoming a trade port instead of an industrial hub.

The Kro'nogri governing body, before the decrease in settlement population, decided to use one of the mountain quarries on the southeastern continent as a location for a large scale prison, for extremely dangerous or valuable prisoners.

Today, it still survived, holding the worst of the Alliance members, and high ranking UIP prisoners. For the UIP members, survival rates were surprisingly low, which revealed the second tier of being sentenced to Ral'crat prison. It was a death sentence, just how long one survived was down to the skills they had.

Buried deep in the a large, mined out hole, a few dozen miles from a nearby trading port city, Ral'crat prison stretched across the base of a kilometre wide, almost square shaped, manmade chasm, occupying what was once a large, open cast titanium mine. Guards were posted at the entrances and exits, namely the landing platforms both in the chasm, and the chasm's top rim, and checked every person or item coming in or out.

Inside, guards patrolled, mainly automated guard platforms. However, it was an open plan prison, with every prisoner ID'd to their cell with a DNA scanner. The cells were buried into the sides of the chasm walls. Outside their cells, the massive, flat, empty titanium pit was their own playground and battlefield. It was decided that the threat from other prisoners seeking to dominate their hellhole would help keep them in line.

It had gained it reputation over centuries, and of those hundreds who tried to escape, most died before they managed to get over the rim, falling to their deaths in the 1.4 G gravity. Beyond the rim, the guards killed most of the others, while the rest fled into the wilderness of the mountains, often never seen nor heard from again. The creatures of this planet were good at disposing of any corpses, while the diseases and fungi were good at attacking those survivors beyond the pit.

Thousands more never made any attempt at escape, as the hell became their sanctuary, as their time made them fear the outside world. Innocence was stamped out, and hope was extinguished, buried along with the prisoners in this pit, before and after they died.

Sitting in the dark cell, the only light coming in from the dim sunlight of the planet's orange star in its twilight phase, Alex had been awake for 2 days now.

He had already been told where he was when asking an automated guard, coming around for cell inspection of the 'new arrivals'. Ral'craz prison was the worst possible place he could have ended up.

A message sent from Kal'sik, only a mere audio recording, gave an indication of his intended punishment:

"**Outside, in the UIP and beyond our space, you were a titan, a challenging opponent, but an annoyance to the Alliance, along with a failed experiment among the original KI and the Varya operation. It is in this prison that the greatest failures of galactic society in our view are condemned."**

"**Know that you are one of a few in this place who share your abilities and ties to the KI. The destruction of the KI fleet did not destroy all the operatives, many of whom here were not trapped when I tracked them down to convert them to their final stage of use at Varya. Their flight into Alliance space ended here, their final place until they die. In Ral'craz, secrets and failures are buried and forgotten among the bones and rocks where the prisoners lay with their last shred of life. And you shall join the dead in this place, while we hunt down the rest of your allies in the NKI. You will die, that is guaranteed, but you will know pain and hardship before that. You will be tortured knowing your precious NKI, UIP and everything you ever cared about are being erased from the galaxy, and then, your impending death will seem like a relief to your suffering. Live long, for only then will punishment be paid."**

The recording had left Alex with a grim note, and he had no ideas, no hopeful strategy, no resources. His in built weapons had been stripped, and his mechanical limbs seemed less effective now in the higher gravity of 1.5Gs. He had dark matter, but by Kal'sik's message, it would be key to his survival if other KI members were present, surviving Varya also.

He had landed in a place with people who may know of his act of destroying the KI fleet, and thousands of people.

Alex lay down on his cot, staring through the titanium and steel bars at the rim of the mine chasm cliffs, savouring the last orange sunlight before darkness began to settle over the hell he had been thrown into.

**Really sorry guys, lots of commitments going on, flying lessons, college, so on and so forth.**

**Updates will be more rapid in future. As usual, read and review, whether you like/dislike, but with dignity and constructive advice if any.**


	26. Chapter 26

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 26: Ral'craz prison, Decepticons attack.**

**28th October 2901**

**Fetal'ra system, Planet Ras'hana, Ral'craz prison.**

Nearly two weeks into his stay in what could only be viewed as a hellhole, and Alex had not ventured far past his cell block except to gather food and water.

Food was delivered down in crates, piled in the centre of the quarry hole, and as there seemed to be a 'pecking order' among the prisoners, Alex was careful to stay back, feeding off scraps. His mechanical limbs meant he did not have to consume very much food, for a human, to stay alive and in reasonable condition. He could get by on only 800 calories a day easily.

Drinking water was delivered in a similar manner, despite there being an oasis of sorts near the quarry hole's bottom, the 800 metre tall, overall 85 degree slope, stepped in many places with ledges, outcroppings and some natural, probably nested caves.

The oasis, in reality more like a 5 foot deep muddy pond, was avoided for drinking due to the inherent diseases notorious on this world, particularly the water borne diseases. However, Alex still made trips to that oasis, crossing on a few occasions where all the other prisoners busied themselves with fetching supplies.

As fate would have it, the duetrium content of the oasis water was 1 in 3000 duetrium count per molocules of normal hydrogen in the water molocules. And with his more power-consuming systems down, such as weapons, Alex's reactor could easily sustain him on just 2 litres of water per day. His fusion reactor feed was calibrated to filter out the duetrium molocules to use as fusion fuel, and eject the rest of the water. And less than a gram of fusion fuel could sustain him for a week, even two weeks.

But running low on fusion fuel was the least of Alex's problems. Neither was the prospect of escape, which while only very difficult to climb from the quarry and past the guard ring, was impossible once he would reach the jungles.

The worst problems lived in the same quarry as he was trapped at the bottom of.

Retreating back to his cell, Alex took his normal route, scrambling beneath and around large boulders and ridges that marred the quarry's base. Stepping as silently as he could, the cyborg human rounded the next corner.

Ahead, the mining tunnel, inside which was his and a few other cells, lay open.

Walking briskly, Alex noticed a few other prisoners standing by their own tunnel entrances, and the looks they were giving him. Of course, this deep in the Alliance territory, they wondered what this human was doing here.

Reaching his mine entrance, Alex cautiously brushed past a female Kro'nogri, scars criss crossing her face, bare shoulders and arms. As he entered the dark, mined out corridor, he failed to notice the look of predation on her face. Her back arched upwards, and she moved in.

The human walked at the same speed, his cell in sight, while another two inmates, these two male Kro'nogri, joined the female in silently following him.

Walking up, Alex reached to grab his cell door. Then, his world became a rush.

The female Kro'nogri seized his shoulder, unluckily for him his recently re-scarred right shoulder, and threw him backwards from his cell. Hitting the dirt floor, Alex gasped in pain from his shoulder, as he rolled to a stop. The sun streamed in from the entrance, illuminating his face and shoulders.

Hearing the stomping, Alex jerked his head up, scrambling backwards as the 3 Kro'nogri advanced on him. Their faces were feral, and they looked to be enjoying this.

Leaping up, Alex lashed out, throwing a precise punch to the female Kro'nogri's stomach. She twisted to dodge, managing to move enough that the punch was a glancing blow, knocking he back with no true damage. After her, one of the 2 male Kro'nogri brought a hand down, claws outstretched.

Raising an arm, Alex blocked the swipe, and spun around to smash his elbow into the Kro'nogri's face, grabbing the blocked hand and wrist as he spun. Knocking the Kro'nogri backwards, still in his grip, Alex twisted to kick upwards, smashing the swinging arm of the third Kro'nogri out of the way, his mechanical foot nearly fracturing the Kro'nogri's bones.

Feeling the Kro'nogri struggling in his grip, Alex turned quickly, and holding the Kro'nogri's hand, chopped downwards with his free hand, and the crunch of the reptile's broken wrist echoed through over the fight volume, before his shriek of pain overtook him.

Spinning, Alex failed to see the Kro'nogri female behind him. She swiped out as his back was turned, her claws nearly missing as Alex reacted instinctively. But he was not fast enough, and her claws raked through his thin prison garb, leaving 3 cuts in his skin, beginning to bleed.

The slash floored him also, the pain making his knees buckle. He gasped in pain, collapsing onto his side, joining the male Kro'nogri whose wrist he'd broken on the floor.

Above him, as the 2nd Kro'nogri male stumbled back to his feet, no longer favouring the arm Alex had kicked, the bones nearly broken in them, the female Kro'nogri growled, advancing on Alex. As she stepped over him, she smiled in a sick manner, gesturing to the other 2 male Kro'nogri with her, one still on the floor:

"Hello, Alex Hunter. Ala'mei Ranothis, remember me? Or at least, remember what organization we worked together in?"

Gasping, Alex rolled onto his back slightly, the blood beginning to drip from his 3 back scratches. Looking up, he couldn't recognize the face of the female reptilian above him. Coughing, thankfully not coughing blood, Alex croaked: "The KI?"

"Good guess. You were one of our best members once." She slammed her foot into his side, the human crying as he was rolled over onto his stomach in pain. She then hissed: "And you betrayed us. Because you grew soft, you couldn't handle the dirty work."

Rasping, Alex said: "No. Look at the Varya operations, that was what all KI members would have eventually become, slaves. Just like we all were. Unlike you and others, I was smart, and quit while I was ahead."

His response was a planted foot on his back. Leaning over him, Ala'mei looked at his upper back and neck, noting the still scarred skin and protruding neural implants in the spine. Not accepting the lies, she pressed her foot further up his back, saying: "Unlike you, I didn't betray them. I survived, still loyal to the KI. And you tried to kill us all, we all know it was you. Most surviving KI members ended up here."

"NO! Many were at Varya, they were taken to become those-"

"SHUT UP!" She extended her feet claws, raking her foot down Alex's back, earning cries of agony from him. He tried to get up, to use his dark matter, but the pain was too much at the moment. She hissed in delight at the growing blood stains on the ground from the human, and said coldly: "You betrayed all of us, and you destroyed what life we had. And besides, no one will miss you if I kill you."

Her foot raked across his neck and back, scratching around the spinal implant protrusions greatly. The claws ripped skin, and blood began to flow in many small rivulets down his back, as he gripped the ground in pain, trying to not pass out as he yelled in absolute agony.

The Kro'nogri male whose arm was only nearly broken then asked: "Let me get at him! He nearly broke my arm, let me cut him open as well."

"You're welcome to him." Ala'mei said, stepping off Alex briefly. The male walked up to the downed human, just as the 2nd Kro'nogri male struggled to his feet cradling his broken wrist.

Those few moments were the key moments.

On the ground, as the pain from constant raking grew, Alex realized he was here, surrounded by people like him, tricked, deluded into doing horrible things for what they believed was right in their eyes, or what was required to help their people.

People manipulated, people who were exploited, and people who would never be the same. They were non-negotiable, and would never stop being those people. Just as Alex would always be affected by his constant use and manipulation, or being downtrodden or cast aside when he pledges himself to a cause.

It was in those moments that Alex finally realized, that he could only ever be fully loyal to himself to survive this prison. He was surrounded by people much like himself as he once was.

And he hated it. He hated every single one of them.

Every moment of self hatred for what he had done came flooding back, all the killings, all the crimes for the greater good, whether it was true or him being deceived by the KI, all the vicious pleasure he took from such horrific acts as a way to sate his guilt. It overwhelmed him, and he saw that he was a horrific person, and could never truly be free from his guilt or his 'darker' traits and tendencies.

The only benefit he was to the world was not to make it better, but to remove those sources that made it worse, permanently.

There would only be one remaining KI member in this prison, that he swore.

As the male stepped up to the human, Alex's hand swung out, and from his hand, a limited, powerful asset extended.

The black blade sharpened as it swung, and with no armour on his ankles apart from his scales, the male Kro'nogri's left ankle was half clean severed, the blade not quite managing to cut the bone.

Screaming, the male fell down, the blood flowing from his foot. Struggling up from his groundside spin, Alex was on his knees, fighting the pain in his back from the blood and scratches. The skin around his spinal implants was horrifically scratched now, but the pain was not a hindrance. It gave him a driving force, the pain was a reminder of what he needed to do to every KI member in this prison, to end it once and for all.

The female Kro'nogri charged, but Alex rolled painfully to avoid her charge and swipe with her claws, and gripped her shoulder from behind in his vice like grip, the mechanical hand squeezing her shoulder bones with painful pressure. Taking his own claws in his free hand, he extended the finger tips into claws, and thrust them into her side.

Her shrill shrieks echoed out of the cavernous prison tunnel, and attention was drawn from other areas of the prison. A few prisoners presumed a case of sexual assault, but a few crunching noises proved it was far worse.

Having dropped Ala'mei's body on the floor, her side gushing blood, and her neck now also punctured and twisted to snapping point, Alex turned to the broken wristed Kro'nogri, who tried to scramble away. He charged, and grabbed the Kro'nogri, throwing him down onto the floor.

Looking back, Alex saw the 2nd male Kro'nogri still clutching his half severed ankle, and he stomped over. Looming over the male reptile, Alex raised his foot, saying: "I will live to suffer while you will be free, that is better than the reward the KI would have given you in the end." He smashed his foot into his throat, crushing the neckbones and windpipe.

Walking from the pulpy body, Alex pressed the remaining male Kro'nogri on the ground, and he then saw the gathering crowd nearby. He was just outside the cave entrance, and the crowd was apprehensive.

To them, he was maniacal, and he glared at them, shouting: "Anyone once in the KI beware! I will be the last one living so that the horrors of that group die with me! Here's to show I mean it!"

Bringing a fist up, Alex smashed it into the Kro'nogri's chest, feeling the armoured scales snap underneath his blow. Again with his other fist, and again with each fist. Armour, scales and bones broke under his blows, and organs began to rupture.

A few seconds later, and Alex was hunched over the body, listening to the gurgles of the male Kro'nogri's last life signs leave him.

Slowly, the human rose, his eyes holding a long forgotten look in them. Anticipation, satisfaction, and guiltless rage. It was the same look he held on the Haenkyo Pirate base, when he assaulted Quirinth out of vengeance, and when he set the dead bodies of himself, his father and Quirinth's comatose form on his step sister and her now lover, then friend.

The crowd stayed quiet, some advancing slowly, most other backing off.

Those who advanced, made the smile on the Dark Hunter's face grow ever so slightly with each step towards him they took. The Hunter's claws extended with each step, and unseen black, dust like material accumulated in his hands, invisible until formed into a blade weapon.

That day and night, the grounds of Ral'cratz prison became stained with the blood of multiple races. The blood of both hunter and his victims.

Over in other parts of the prison, a few eyes recognized the human standing over the Kro'nogri corpse, all of them once KI like he was. All shared an opinion, all knew of their ultimate intended fate as Varya slaves as part of the KI, but they knew that Alex had destroyed the KI fleet. 3 of them had also been at Varya, under the slave control as he was, and understood why Alex did it, to save them, and to stop the terror of the Emancipator from attacking as the Dreadnoughts now did.

For those reasons, blood soon began to spill elsewhere in the prison.

**30th October 2901**

**Fetal'ra system, Planet Ras'hana, Ral'craz prison.**

"Sir. We have our daily prison roster, and something's happened."

Atop the rim of the abandoned quarry pit, inside one of the main guard towers, one of the sentry guards brought the news to the local watch guard. While Ral'cratz relied on the terrain, and inhospitable landscape to block off most of the rest of the ways out, the path directly between the quarry prison and the nearest city, only a few miles away, was blocked by an array of watch towers. The towers blocked the direct route to the city, but their secondary role was to stop escapes from that direction, the only once safe direction.

The primary purpose of the prison watch towers was to maintain information on the prison and its inmates, including population, and any possible escapees. In today's case, the health and population of the prisoners had seen a significant change.

The reporting guard, a young Kro'nogri male, handed the prison surveillance report to his boss, a middle aged, worn Kro'nogri male.

Looking over the numbers, the chief watchman asked incredulously: "212 prisoners yesterday, now there are only 165? How can near 50 prisoners die in the space of 2 days?"

"We checked footage and sensor feeds. There was a fight, which evolved into many others, between some members once in that rogue group, the Knight Initiative. A mass fight broke out, and after the first fights ended, they began killing off others. Most stayed out, but it was a handful who did all the killing. Only 5 involved in the fights survived: 2 humans, a Sril'sask, a Kro'nogri, and a Predator, all males. Those 5 weren't fighting each other, only the others.

Contemplating, the head guard thought for a moment. Their job was to ensure none of the prisoners escaped to the city, and to keep tabs on the prisoners. They could let them escape into the wild jungles, as the wildlife would kill them quickly. And riots broke out in the prison quite a few times, as with many prisons. If one was larger than normal, it was simply a larger fight for once.

"We have our jobs. The prisoners are free to live as they do in their hell, even if it means killing each other for sport. Besides, they make out job easier, less filth and scum to keep track of."

With that, the reporting watchman headed back to his post atop the quarry rim.

Taking up his post, the watchman lowered his scope on his binoculars, zooming in on the prisoners below.

Scanning the walls of the quarry basin, he saw one area stained red and yellowish-blue, the colours of the blood of multiple races. The guard saw the human, Alex Hunter's prison cell tunnel, and knew who else was down there in that pit: Murderers, high profile smugglers, gangsters, and even slavers. But the human was one among 5 survivors down there, all of a different breed.

He was a KI former member, many of whom, but not all, having been given abilities considered, and mistaken as unnatural powers by the untrained eye. He was bred from the DNA of a dead human, and possessed the same transferred mind and memories of the same human, and was imprinted with the knowledge to become a living weapon, even before considering giving him to the Varya operation.

With the human and the other 4, including another human, a Kro'nogri, Sril'sask and a Predator, having killed nearly 50 people within 2 days in the prison, hunting them down and killing them in a myriad of ways, the guard felt no need to question any of them on the morality or reason behind such murderous endeavours.

They were all each a great danger on their own, and they had to stay down in that pit.

**3rd November 2901**

**Konurich Station, Alliance Space.**

The pinnacle space station of the Alliance had seen its own share of conflict during this interstellar war. Most of the conflict was to do with rioting, including the riots that claimed the life of the dismissed female Vulcan ambassador, unknown to the UIP, before the war, or to do with the uprisings and encouragement from the NKI and its Underworld Guild counterparts.

Konurich station, being 1000 light years from the home world star clusters of the Alliance races, faced a greater risk from invasion than other key Alliance controlled worlds or settlements. In wake of all the rioting and civil conflict, many of the station's inhabitants had fled to safer locations in Alliance territory, and as Konurich station was a trading port and hub station, its activity had seen a decrease in wake of this civil unrest. With the recent exposure of the Dreadnoughts weaknesses to the UIP, and the NKI's Dreadnought, the garrison for Konurich station was significantly less.

All this made the vast, 16 kilometre long, 8 kilometre wide station a prime target for Decepticon assault.

A day ago, the Decepticon forces had assaulted the station, their advanced weapons and troops, combined with space vessels either disguised as relief vessels or genuine NKI defected warships, providing more than enough military assets to seize many station sectors within a few hours.

Half of the station had fallen under Decepticon might, but the remaining garrison fought savagely against the titanic army.

Inside one station sector, a firefight was still raging inside what was once a shopping district, the central walkway becoming a no-man's land. The arrival of an additional squad of Decepticons changed the tide. It was now a handful of Decepticons, each roughly 15 foot tall, against now gradually retreating Alliance troopers.

"Squash the meatbags! They're trying to fry the bulkhead door circuits to the next sector!" Screamed a Decepticon shock trooper. The mech had just intercepted comms from the Alliance, ordering to sabotage bulkhead doors as they pulled back to more fortified positions.

Ahead, Kro'nogri and Leg'hrul fled, returning fire towards the much larger Cybetronian attackers, were cut down one by one as plasma and sonic weapons fire cut them to pieces, some vaporized entirely. Retreating, the bulkhead doors began to shut behind them, the 4 foot thick armoured doors lowering to block the attackers for a minute or so.

But Brawl would have none of it.

He had joined the attacking squad as a reinforcement, and he wanted this squad dead. The 25 foot mech transformed to his tank mode, and charged his booster rockets. The hover tank sped through, firing plasma cannons at the troopers still exposed beneath the shutting door.

Finally, the bulkhead door slammed shut, giving the Alliance troopers a few seconds to breath. But only a few.

5 seconds after it shut, the bulkhead door was smashed, ripped in two by the hover tank firing plasma shots at its centre, and ramming it down.

The bulkhead doors spear outwards, flying metal debris cutting down one Leg'hrul trooper during his attempt to fall back. Through the sounds of the grating metal, shifting components and a charging high velocity railgun sounded.

Looking onwards down the station's street, Brawl opened fire with his left arm's plasma machine gun, casually incinerating and vaporizing Alliance forces wherever they hid and tried to fire on him from.

Advancing, Brawl fired his main cannon on rapid fire, the high power plasma bolts racing down the long street passage, over the heads of cowering and firing Alliance troopers. The plasma bolts tore through the walls of a lounge and bar area, now abandoned and full of bunker equipment.

But the plasma bolts continued through the lounge, tearing apart the walls of an observation deck.

The lounge area blown apart, air began rushing out of the ruined transparisteel viewing window. Screaming Leg'hrul and Kro'nogri caught in the suction were vented out into space to suffocate and freeze, until the automatic venting shutters sealed off the damaged viewing window with an Aluminium and lead lined layer of shutters.

Behind Brawl, as he fired again at some distant Alliance troopers, another Decepticon, Stockade, comm'd other squad leaders across the station: "Blow out any of the sides of the station in heavily defended areas. By the time the shutters kick in to seal the leak, they'll be disorganized in the chaos of oxygen loss."

On board an NKI affiliated destroyer, this one mounted with Cybertronian weapons to make it a match for a cruiser in firepower, Shockwave surveyed the station on the holodisplay before him.

Soundwave was nearby, silently inputing new information he received from commanders in station sectors, applying them to the tactical map they were projected. Laserbeak was perched menacingly on Soundwave's shoulder, optics greedily admiring the progress the Decepticons made on the quite large Alliance capital space station.

"Shockwave. Decepticon forces have securely captured 41.3% of the station's areas. 34.8% are still under combat situation, and the remaining areas are too deep inside to attack with space attacks or boarding forces as of present. Alliance reinforcements: Unavailable. Alliance defeat and capture of Konurich station: Inevitable. Estimated time until secure capture of entire station: 53 hours."

"Yeeesss. The scaly and feathery meatbags are putting up a respectable fight, but they are powerless to stop the attacks launched against them." Laserbeak commented.

Shockwave rumbled to himself, and said: "We must ensure no one escapes the station unless we allow it. Until I give an order otherwise, any vessels with Alliance IFFs are to be destroyed on sight. Civilian ships are to be disabled by EMP and searched for Alliance military at worst. No exceptions, the civilians trying to escape the station are not worth the effort of killing if they serve no strategic purpose when dead."

"As you wish Lord Shockwave." Said Soundwave, relaying the updated orders upon command.

Standing at his post, Shockwave momentarily remembered how the NKI had fallen into the shadows after the raid on New Cybertron and the capture of Alex and Sha'krii, along with the reported death of Morthas Krithos on Pandora and the numerous injuries sustained by many that same day.

While Kal'sik was still out there, Shockwave allowed himself a rare treat mentally, a feeling of confidence and pleasure. The plan of a Decepticon army being used to end this war more quickly was proceeding smoothly, and it showed that past prejudices and mistrust of such tactics, in such desperate times was illogical and wasteful.

And Shockwave knew that in this war, it was illogical to waste such a military resource like the Decepticons revived and any volunteers not in the UIP. He briefly was grateful to Primus that this aspect of the war seemed to be on the way to smooth progress.

**Exams, job training course, so much going on, but I finally finished this chapter. I promise the others will come more quickly.**

**Please review if you liked this chapter.**


	27. Chapter 27

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 27: Undesirable allies, past pains.**

**8th November 2901**

**Fetal'ra system, Planet Ras'hana, Ral'craz prison.**

Over a week had passed since the massive riot in the quarry prison, in its wake claiming 47 lives. Of the participants, 5 had survived, and became a taboo subject within their hellhole.

Little was it known that the mutual survival of those people would bring them together, especially when they inhabited a place where everyone was on their own for survival.

Siphoning water from the dirty creek, Alex winced slightly as the blazing light from the single, yellowish-orange giant star blazed from high in the sky. Despite the planet's distance from the giant star, and its location in the ideal orbit for liquid water and carbon based life, the heat was still great.

It was times like this that made Alex thankful that he had been immunized from cancer when he joined the UIP military. If not, he'd likely be on the way to skin cancer at this rate. His back, neck and shoulders already had sunburn at least.

With the duetrium rich water flowing into his reactor fuel processing chamber in his small, wallet sized chest port, Alex looked over at the rise over the creek, where the crates of food had been shipped down for today.

Ever since the massacre, and him making the first kills, Alex had moved up the pecking order quickly. He didn't test his luck too often though, but it helped to know that the other prisoners greatly feared him now.

Making his way over, he walked up to the crate pile, a few prisoners sighting him and backing away a distance to walk over to groups, staying clear of him.

Sifting through the crates, Alex saw little of actual taste in the crates, and began dragging out a package of what looked like nutritional, wet concrete.

"They go to this much trouble to lock us down here, you would think they'd feed us better to make us not want to escape."

Alex whipped his head to face the voice, a noticeable accent with it. Its owner stepped from behind the other side of the crate pile.

Alex saw another human, one he recognized from another cell block. The human, with bronze skin, not quite African heritage, nor Caucasian, spoke with his accent punctuating his words:

"You were once KI? Alex Hunter?"

Seeing that the man would have already tried something if he wanted him dead, Alex nodded curtly. The man smiled briefly, and said: "Yes. I know of you, as do a few others I know in this pit. What happened over a week before, we were the victors."

"You survived the fights and took part in them?" Alex asked, wary.

"Myself and 3 others did. We are all former KI, a history that gives us an edge over the other prisoners in this place. They are animals, we are disciplined, though some more than others. You abandoned the KI after the attack on Mars." The human noted.

"The KI was attacking targets more on behalf of the Alliance. I really was a traitor to the UIP, but I didn't want to help them anymore. So I left."

"But I approve, as do the others. We have all been here for a longer time than you have Hunter, myself over 9 months. I was unfortunate to be captured by bounty hunters 6 months after the whole mess of Varya station. I willingly surrendered when they had me cornered, and they sold me to the Alliance, who imprisoned me here."

"You survived Varya, yet you ended up in Alliance space?"

"I was attacking the station interior to try and sabotage it before I fled to UIP worlds. But by the time the station began to fall apart, and the space bridges shutting down, I was too deep in the station to make it back to the UIP. So I stole a shuttle and jumped into Alliance territory, sticking to the fringe words where their influence is minimal, mainly uninhabited sections of populated worlds. My story is much the same as 2 of the other 3 I also speak of, as those 2 are also UIP races. The last is a Kro'nogri. All of us four are victims of Varya. And we understand your actions in light of Varya."

Surprised, Alex let out a exhale of amusement, and commented: "Well, at last my stay in this hell won't be as dangerous as I thought now."

Holding out a hand, the human offered: "Razid Akbular. Former KI and former UIP sharpshooter."

Grasping his hand, Alex asked: "Sharpshooter? How good were you?"

"I was called the Possessed Eye, a name my fellow shooters came up for me after a few battles on some skirmishes 4 years ago on the UIP border, including Sar'kahns mining facility battle and the Utaka industrial city skirmish. They claimed I seemed inhuman when I was sighting a target, as if my eyes fired not particle rounds, but demons to kill them from inside, seeming to never miss. But, in actuality I was just a very good shot."

"How many kills to your name?"

"In the UIP, I killed 170 Alliance, most of them by single shot to head or neck. After I joined KI to pursue more work for better pay, and better job satisfaction by taking out corrupt people within my own home galactic government or systems, I made 80 kills, again most single shot."

Whistling, Alex looked at Razid, and only now noticed how big of a man he was for a human, at 6 foot 3 inches, but more densely muscled than Alex ever was with his organic limbs at that height, even at his impressive peak. "But you're a big guy. How did sniping targets work for you?"

"It's all in the breathing. Plus, I was a very good hand to hand combat specialist, a useful skill if I got cornered in a sniping post or needed to take out a target without gunfire. That is why I turned down voluntary dark matter from KI. I wanted to keep the skills I had sharp, and they were what the KI needed anyway. Of course, with Varya we all received the ability to use Dark matter, but not by choice."

"Show me." Alex asked. He held out his own, hand, dark matter visibly pooled into its open palm, a small fragment of the 1 litre he had on hand. Razid opened his hand, focusing, and it seemed to not come completely naturally to him.

But sure enough, the dark matter arched up, extending to cling to his hand like a gripping arm, and wrapped itself around his wrist. Razid balled the dark matter in mid air, making it move back and forth in front of his face, before returning it to Alex's hand.

Razid turned to the other side of the prison, saying: "Come on, I'll introduce you to the other 3 victors of the fights."

"Sure. But one question. Where's your accent and looks from?"

"Saudi Arabian. My parents, one was a colonist, my mother, and she moved back to the city of Bahrain, on Earth. She met my father, and also picked up an accent. I was born there, 34 years ago, and lived there, and went to school, and left when I enlisted at age 22 after college."

"Really? My parents were British, though they died when I was a baby. I was raised by some tribal Na'vi on the planet Pandora."

Clapping a hand on Alex's right shoulder, Razid laughed loudly, proclaiming: "Alex Hunter, you truly are a remarkable human."

Alex swore loudly, saying in a vicious hiss: "Careful, that's still sore from Kal'sik cutting it and it healing!"

"Kal'sik? That soulless lizard did that? But wasn't he disgraced after Varya?"

Alex stared at him for a moment, and said with a deadpan voice: "I've got to fill you in on a few details, and possibly these three your taking me to."

Reaching another tunnel, on the far side of the quarry basin, Alex and Razid heard a heated conversation inside the darkened tunnel. Thankfully the guards allowed them to keep their translators, and even without it, Alex would have only understood one of the people:

"I swear, I just saw some food and I took it!"

"You swear!? You saw me and took my food willingly didn't you?!"

"Please! I haven't eaten in days, I'm so hungry! Just let me have the food!"

"Now that I think about it, you can have the food. You're good instead."

**CRACK!**

Screams echoed, and walking over, some sand-red blood stained the dusty ground, splattering in small drops from around a tunnel corner.

Razid went ahead, and came to see the sight, exclaiming loudly: "GREAT ALLAH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"

More crunching, and as Razid stepped backwards in disgust and shock, Alex wandered over, and saw one of the three Razid mentioned.

A Sril'sask was perched on top of a mutilated Leg'hrul, ribcage ripped open and blood on the floor. The Sril'sask rudely stated through the mouthful of avian intestines he chewed:

"He took my food, and he was starving. Gorging on prison food in his state would have been worse than what I'm doing to him now."

Razid asked in complete bewilderment: "What makes you think he's better off now!?"

"The bird's not complaining about starving anymore, isn't he?"

A disgusted noise sounded in an adjacent cell, and all three looked over to see a Kro'nogri backed against a wall, his face expressing disgust and disapproval as his race did: "Really Je'rol? Are you that hungry that a sapient being is a source of food now?"

"Not really, I just didn't like him stealing my food. He can't do it no more though, heh-heh-heh." Grinning, Je'rol nodded down to the gutted corpse offhandedly: "Want some Kae'tano? Better than the crap we get each day."

"You're sick Je'rol." The Kro'nogri was not used to seeing a sapient being eat another, as one would normally be.

Behind Alex, a figure stood now. A tap on the human's shoulder alerted Alex to the final of the 3 aliens Razid mentioned. A male Predator, his mandibles flexing in what was a impatient, calculating stare:

"You're the human Razid told us we should align with us?"

"My name's Alex Hunter. Now I don't have a good track record with your race, especially 2 individuals, though one doesn't know it yet. Keep that in mind." Alex threatened, his height just a hair above the Predators, still an impressive 6 foot 7 inches.

Flexing his mandibles in a contemplative manner, the Moko'tel said simply: "By all means, of course I can't believe the killer of Pedosk Vinirils is here as a prisoner. If you could kill the UIP president, I'd expect more from you."

His face falling from annoyed disbelief, Alex said in a flat tone: "You are all out of date aren't you?"

Jae'taro, the Kro'nogri, came forwards, still sickened by Je'rol's Leg'hrul feast nearby, and said: "The rest of us have been here at least 9 months human, we aren't entitled to galactic news down here."

"I've been down here for 3 years myself." The Sril'sask, Je'rol grumbled, as he tore off another chunk of Leg'hrul meat from his victim. Feeling whatever he had earlier beginning to work up his throat slightly from the sight, Alex said: "Well, we all survived the fights over a week ago, so we all share an agenda. Might as well share stories and get you all updated."

The stories were cut and dry, and details of the goings on between Jae'taro's imprisonment 8 months earlier and the next prisoner, Alex, were filled in.

Alex told his story, including all his exploits in the UIP, KI, the Solaris system, the Emancipator destruction, Varya operation, post Varya and NKI operations until his capture. He divulged the evidence they found on the true antagonists of the war, the 2 ambassadors, now only 1 living.

The others were quick to share stories.

Razid Akbular summarized his life again, saying his life growing up in Bahrain, on Earth, led to him becoming a renowned UIP sharpshooter, later lending his skills to the KI as an assassin for hire. Like all skilled KI agents, he was eventually outfitted with Dark Matter abilities, minor in his case, for his eventual planned integration into the Varya slave armies. After he escaped Varya, and was trapped in Alliance space, he roamed the Alliance territory, taking up jobs for criminals or himself, he was caught by bounty hunters and brought in.

The male Kro'nogri, Jae'taro, was an interesting case. He was in fact once a high level mercenary leader, hired sometimes by both the Underworld Guild and more legitimate contractors. He once had a small, loyal armed force at his command, but lost them when they split up to execute a raid on a private mining colony 2 years ago, with Jae'taro's team getting caught while the other team escaped with the plunder of platinum and nickel. He had placed a priority on getting the plunder to the buyers, to get his men the pay they needed. He was once hard on his men, just as a way to break them, after which he treated them equally, like brothers. After his initial capture, he was drafted into the KI as a trooper, though the time was suite short between his start and Varya. After 3 months hiding, he was captured by an Alliance patrol ship when he was passing through a system, trying to slip through, and here he was in Ral'craz prison. His tan yellow and pale green scales echoed what frequently constant avoidance of sunlight did to Kro'nogri scales. Most importantly, he was big, even for a Kro'nogri, almost matching the giant Alex fought with Ja'hail back on the Peragoth colony, Kol'ris. Jae'taro was 7 foot exactly, but more humble, intelligent, patient, but brutal, messy, but efficient when he fought, using his bare hands and claws in place of many short range weapons.

The Male Predator, Moko'tel, was once a young military medical scientist, but he had grown into a habit of testing new drugs he had developed for organic performance enhancement, or chemical weapons, on UIP patients, prisoners of war, and even UIP criminals. He was testing another of his creations, a form of chemical paralysis vapour, which when inhaled, caused almost total motor control loss, leaving the victim only breathing and crumpled on the floor. Unfortunately, his chemical had side effects, including hallucinations to the paralysed victims, most of them fear inducing. Trying to fix this problem, Moko'tel tried to alter the compound, to maintain the successful paralysis effect with no fear mongering hallucinations.

His next test was his sealing point, and as his patient left the 'clinic' he held, apparently only experiencing the paralysis temporarily, the patient succumbed to the fear hallucinations merely a day later, worse than normal. Seeing that the authorities might trace back to him, Moko'tel fled, taking his research and disappearing off the grid 3 years ago. Within 4 months of his disappearance, he heard of the KI, and joined them, eager to exercise his research more. His research contributed to the design of the dark matter psychokinetic control enhancing neural modules used by all KI members using Dark matter. And like all KI not destroyed when the Emancipator blew, Moko'tel was drafted into Varya, and after escaping but being trapped in Alliance space, was sent to Ral'craz prison 15 months ago, after hiding for 3 months in Alliance space.

Je'rol, the male Sril'sask, was perhaps the most twisted. He had little memory of his early life, knowing only that his parents had been victims in a gangster shootout at age 7, 21 years ago. He was taken by the mob, and sold into the underground gladiator games once held extensively by the Sril'sask criminal world and corrupt worlds. To his and everyone's surprise, he excelled, becoming a legend in the ring, becoming ruthless and twisted, his morality and logic becoming as scarred and disfigured as his body became from the numerous small scars he got from each fight.

Je'rol was captured by the Alliance directly, his world where he lived in the gladiator ring for 14 years being attacked in a raid. For the next 3 and a half years Je'rol was imprisoned in a POW facility, frequently proving his mental state and physical capability to be exceedingly dangerous. It was decided to integrate him into the Varya program to make use of him, or hope he was killed in action.

After Varya was thrown into chaos, Je'rol went back into the station, hijacking a shuttle and jumping from the station into deep space. He landed on a small outpost colony world, a mainly Kro'nogri world, where Je'rol lived in the sewers. Eventually he was found, as reports of a non-alliance being circulated. Before capture, Je'rol killed a dozen officers with his claws and teeth, and with his danger level, he was quickly deported to Ral'craz, as his Varya dark matter user status made him a very dangerous individual. Fortunately, with Je'rol being stuck in the quarry for now up to 14 months, he had thought to himself, and realized that he now saw it all, his life and other lives. as a game, like his life in the gladiator rings was once, all one big game. As such, Je'rol was a sadistic showman, but without an audience or a reason to perform any usually unsavoury acts, he was usually placid. Though usually was not enough save the unfortunate, starving Leg'hrul from becoming Je'rol's lunch.

A while after they all finished refreshing one another, there was little more to discuss.

Gazing out towards the centre of the quarry, Moko'tel said with a wistful gaze: "It's funny really, us being in here."

"What could possibly be funny about us being stuck in one of the worst prisons in the galaxy?" Asked Jae'taro, as his Kro'nogri physique was warmed by the still searing hot sunlight that crept its way into the prison cell area.

"Free food maybe?" Offered Je'rol, licking his teeth. Beside him, Razid shot him a wary look.

"No, but really that with people like Kal'sik out there, and the new attacks by the UIP and Alliance against each other, and the rebel groups going low, we are actually safer in here then anywhere else." Said Moko'tel, almost giggling madly at the thought of the irony of their terrible prison.

Looking out to the other side of the quarry pit, Alex saw one prisoner, a male Kro'nogri, throw a smaller Kro'nogri to the ground, smashing his foot into the fallen Kro'nogri's stomach before stealing his food.

"Safe? Not quite what I'd have in mind."

"He said its safe. That over there is just some of the entertainment we get down here, with no advertising or war propaganda." Je'rol said, his voice dark, yet gleeful.

Alex squirmed a bit. Despite his lifestyle and choices, he still had his limits. And this prison put almost any other place he'd been to in his life to shame in terms of hopeless danger.

"As much as your company is pleasurable, I really have got to get out of this hellhole."

"Good luck, there's an escape attempt every month or so. Half of them don't make it up the pit, the others are brought back here, dead or alive. No one has escaped this place without being captured or dying shortly afterwards." Jae'taro said.

"I tried to escape 3 months ago, and I failed." Razid said, his face falling in disappointment.

"I tried to escape twice, once 2 months before, the other a year before." Jae'taro said.

"While myself and Je'rol have sat back and not attempted escape for our own reasons. Je'rol likes the fun he can have down here, and I can enjoy a quiet lifestyle, with my own thoughts and memories. I can refine my formulas without a lab thanks to my time alone I now always seem to have."

Now Alex was worried. These four were interesting, and it was a relief that they agreed with him. But there was no way he would stay here long enough to let this place begin to break him down.

**30th November 2901**

**Vaerakin, Leg'hrul Homeworld, Hre'dralk prison.**

7 weeks.

7 weeks since Sha'krii had awoken inside her lonely prison cell. In those 7 weeks, her only connection to the outside world was the slot through which her food was served in trays.

On the floor, Sha'krii had settled into her established schedule. Eating her 1st daily rations, exercise to pass the time, rest, more eating her 2nd daily rations, more exercise, and sleep. Then repeat.

On each day, her routine became more natural and solidified in her mind, to the point where she would be like an inanimate, moving object, unaware of her surroundings. It was the Princess's way of blocking out the world.

Currently, Sha'krii was punching and scratching the wall, her claws sharpening and chipping slightly, while her fists, wrapped in torn rags from her prison uniform sleeves, pounded the walls. Her fists, being protected by the rags, were only bruised or fractured at most.

She did not notice the silhouette behind her, as the two way mirror would not permit it.

On the other side of the glass, Rho'kis swallowed. He had been putting off this 'personal' meeting for so long, but he had to do it.

From the other side of the glass, where only Rho'kis could see through, the Leg'hrul king saw the banished Kro'nogri princess smashing her fists into the wall, bandaged to minimize damage to her hands. Sha'krii had certainly changed from the last time he saw her, at that 'introductory' meeting with the KI aboard the Rene'kan 9 months before.

Even without the basic, strong cybernetic leg and her now much more toned yet starved appearance, this would not be where Rho'kis would have imagined Sha'krii to be all those years ago.

He was hesitant to hit the speaker button, and he saw Sha'krii begin to slow down in her punching routine. Her movements were calm, almost limp, her form slumping now. Unaware of his presence, she turned to face the two way mirror, staring blankly at a place to the left of Rho'kis.

It was at the sight of her face that Rho'kis's heart began to beat more quickly.

Her face was blank, devoid of any emotion, just empty. Her empty expression was imprinted beneath the two raking scars running down her face, one nearly over her eye, and the scales on her face were slightly ragged, unhealthy, signs of a burn that penetrated even multiple layers of scales.

Sha'krii walked calmly to the two way mirror, now standing as if just to the left of Rho'kis, right at the mirror's edge. Her eye twitched very slightly with every step she took on her prosthetic left leg. It was obvious it was still painful to some degree.

It seemed to be that Sha'krii saw her reflection, as she cautiously raised her hand to her face. As her talons touched the scarred facial skin and burn marks, her face twisted, a buried anger emerging. She started to vibrate with anger.

Rho'kis stumbled backwards as Sha'krii's fist smashed into the two way mirror, the impact sounding very loud on his side of the glass. Through the speakers to his side of the room, he could hear a guttural growl emanating from her throat.

Rho'kis engaged the speaker function to the prison cell.

Inside her cell, Sha'krii's auditory senses heard the faint click of the speaker system. Someone was on the other side of the glass.

"Perhaps another guard come to taunt me today? And this early in my time awake, what a surprise." She was haughty, and almost humorous in her situation.

"Sha'krii."

Her attitude dropped at his voice, and Rho'kis knew she had deduced who he was through the glass. She said with little emotion to her voice: "So, the lesser King has come to see the prize. I wonder if his body has healed from my brother's temper tantrum over Kal'sik's newer strategies with the Dreadnoughts?"

"Sha'krii."

"It would be such a shame if he never fully recovered. I can also sympathize with being hurt badly, and having the consequences carry on for years. It tears you apart at your very core, slowly. Having no one to give the benefit of support to you can really make things worse, so I suppose Rho'kis is fortunate in that regard."

"Ms. Herensk!"

Silence, and Sha'krii spoke to the mirror, still not focused on Sha'krii. To her, speaking in this way without seeing Rho'kis would seem the same if she were going mad and talking to a ghost.  
"Ms. Herensk? Rho'kis called me many things in life, but never that. Always princess, or Sha'krii. Rho'kis can't have himself calling a high profile prisoner by her first name, so he corrects his mistake and calls her Ms. Herensk. Not love, or-"

"Not love. Not since 16 years ago. I was right to say I couldn't marry you, a traitor, and your choices have reflected well upon my choice to follow the law."

Shak'rii's face darkened, and she asked in a spine tingling tone: "So it meant nothing then? The select memories that kept me away from considering suicide during my exile in the far reaches of alliance space were ones of false feelings? Tell me Rho'kis, you are sensible, are you not. Would I go to all this trouble if I wasn't certain of my innocence?"

"To reiterate, I said your choices reflected my wisdom to cut ties when you were exiled. A King must set an example to his subjects and council, and associating with a convict of regicide and patricide is not a way to set an example. At the brink of war, I could not let my feelings, or my thoughts on her truthfulness or innocence. It did not matter whether I thought if that convict was guilty or not,"

"So you suspected I was not guilty, and you said nothing?"

"What could I have said Ms. Herensk? I needed to maintain an image to my people. My people and empire's stability comes before any personal feelings or opinions I have."

"Stability for a pointless war was more important than the woman who shared a bond with you. Or at least I thought I did. If you have nothing else to say Rho'kis, then leave."

Sha'krii turned back to her 'bed', slowly walking over to her bed. As she laid down, she hissed: "Look at me Rho'kis. Look at my face, my leg. Those came from your so called 'champion' of the Alliance, a destroyer of worlds. And you only just big out now, opposing my brother?"

"For me, I wish my brother had hospitalized you for longer. I can guarantee you than I will never forgive you for what you failed to do for me that day 16 years ago. To help me."

"Shak'rii-"

"LEAVE!" Shak'rii bellowed. Rho'kis stared at her, noting how quickly she began to fall asleep on her bed, a wooden couch.

Deciding to leave, Rho'kis saw that for now, while she was caged, Sha'krii really was not he woman he once loved.

**Really sorry this took so long. University is a pain, and so is part time jobs and cursed writer's block!**

**I swear the next chapters will be quicker to come out.**

**Please read and leave reviews.**


	28. Chapter 28

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 28: Low points, tracing fragments, plotting.**

**28th December 2901**

**Ba'hras system. Dev'ral, Peragoth colony**

"The blizzard froze some of the wires together, but I managed to thaw them out and repair some cracked panels." The Leg'hrul spoke into the comm. device, climbing down from the rooftop of one of the colony's communications array platforms.

"**Good, that was the last one today. Just the system heating unit left now, that's at the bottom of the tower. You should see what caused it to malfunction so suddenly."**

Climbing down, the Leg'hrul examined the heating unit: "I see it, something crawled into the unit's power relay box, I can see something like a frozen animal inside there. I think it must have eaten the wires, probably killed itself doing so, poor thing."

"**Pull it out, then repair the wires. Come back and I'll give you you're pay for this week then."**

"Yes sir." The Leg'hrul shut the comm connection, and leant down to pull the small creature's body, the size of an Earth Rat, from the heating unit. It was a Drai'lon, a small, warm blooded reptile mammal hybrid, resembling a fat, hairy iguana, fur protruding from its scales in an odd manner. The Leg'hrul sighed in sadness at the sight of the once desperate, now dead Drai'lon.

"Poor thing." Se'rie looked sadly at the creature, before she knelt down on the ground, digging a small hole with hr claws. Placing the Drai'lon in the hole, she pulled the dirt and snow over the top, burying it.

Se'rie buried her sadness as she buried the Drai'lon, and set to work pulling out the chewed wires, about to replace them.

Wandering through town, Se'rie pulled her coat to herself, hugging it to her body for extra warmth against the descending cold wind of the twilight hours. As she passed through the twilight lit street, the dim neon lights and ambient music of the bar invited her with tantalizing temptation, but she moved past, her mind places other than drink or socializing.

Her clawed feet, covered in the thin armoured leggings, clicked on the pavement as she walked past, while the snow lightly dusted her beaked face. Rounding a corner, Se'rie stopped slowly.

Looking out, she saw the pavement corner, and a vivid memory of mammalian lips crashing into her beak violently, but pleasurably, surfaced briefly. A happy accident, that sparked the start of a new level of relations with someone who had been subjugated for her and her family's survival.

A misty breath escaped her beak as she exhaled, burying the flashes of memories that plagued her when the incident three months ago came to mind. Her helplessness to stop it, his unwillingness to flee from his marauder, and a ruthless being that opposed them all, dragging the human she loved into an obsession for revenge that would lead to his capture.

Turning, she heard a crunch of footsteps, light, another Leg'hrul. She turned her head, and he greeted her in passing, sparing her little more than a glance.

"Madam."

She recognized him, most people in this small colony would.

"Chief Da'ros."

Turning, he recognized her fully now, not just from her reputation of joining the NKI, but also from the day he witnessed the assassins move on her and her family to punish her uncle.

"Se'rie, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"If I might say, you've certainly been less noticed around town since you came back." The Colony Security Chief noted. A hard look flashed on her face, and she merely said:

"I've been noticed much more in other places. Here is where I can get away from it all."

"Well you're not the first one to come here, to bury their past. Of course, not many people lived here, and came back later to get away from things they did on time away. Almost like something bad happened out there they don't want to come and find them." Commented the Chief.

"Are you trying to ask me something Chief?" Se'rie asked, a sad tone of suspicion in her voice.

Taking a step towards her, Chief Da'ros said in a low tone: "Look, I know slightly more about what went on out there with the insurgent group you joined. It's my job to know the history of any notable people here. I just want to know if anything that happened out there might be traced back to you, and bring trouble here."

Scowling, Se'rie said: "I wasn't really a leader among them, I was support, I never did anything that would place me high on a wanted list if that's what you're asking."

"I wouldn't think the Alliance would come for you. Besides the criminal networks associated with the NKI, the Alliance thinks they're finished for quite a while."

"With how low we were told to lie after the new Cybertron attacks, and for how long it's been since then and any large operation, we might as well be."

As she began to walk off, Da'ros asked her one last question: "What about the war? You think with how things are more a stalemate now it will end soon?"

Se'rie saw a collection of her memories, the particle bursts and explosions from the Alliance and the Fortress on Pandora, and the giant form of Kal'sik, the Alliance's iconic enforcer, staring right at her through the volcanic mist and orange glow of the lava rivulets beneath. The scarred skin beneath her right wing feathers burned slightly. Her answer was clear.

"With how bad things were before they went quieter, no. It won't end soon."

The former NKI support member left the Security Chief with that statement.

**Later that night.**

_Orange burning on her wing, fumes drowning her senses as the creature stared through the burning haze from atop the cracked ground._

_Turning, the giant creature set its sights on the figure beneath it. A broken, darker shape lay at its feet, its movements weak. In futile effort, the darker shape struggled up, bearing down on the larger creature, as an entire world above them, overlooking the place they stood upon, burned._

_A flashing corridor, then the scene overlooked a glowing world, illuminated by glowing signs of life, and the burning of its lands. Above, an armada of shapes fought amongst themselves, and within its centre, amid the corpse of a massive machine of destruction, the large creature emerged once more, this time descending upon the darker creature, trying to escape._

_The giant creature engulfed the smaller, darker shape, and the scene turned to blackness. Through the black, the same orange mist emerged, burning, hotter and hotter, as the shaded of sick yellow and green permeated, the seemingly soulless wells that were eyes staring at her with cruel indifference._

_A shimmer, and a dark hand thrust towards her-_

Awaking with a scream, which she was quick to muffle, Se'rie bolted upright in her bed, once more in her room. Her parents were helpful to let her stay in their house, and she felt no debt to them for it as she paid for a significant portion of the expenses for keeping it. She worked her job as a communications hardware techie with enthusiasm, and it served to keep her mind off her troubles.

But not tonight.

Tonight was another episode of memories, triggered as always from those fated few days in the UIP territory, when Kal'sik's wrath descended upon them all as the NKI leaders and accompanying support.

Staring over at the wall of her room, she saw the faint silhouette of the paintings she made when the four Varya refugees came to her home town.

Her uncle Norstith standing over the bridge with the 3 marauding human shapes in the shadows, ready for his orders, one of them having red eyes among the yellows of the other two.

The gruff mercenary Ja'hail Ra'thor, standing amidst a burning battlefield.

The titanic former Decepticon Shockwave, leaping off a falling gunship while transforming in mid flight as it crashed to the ground.

And lastly, the human killer, Alex 'Hunter' Damien, perched atop a pile of ruined bodies, eyes alert. Se'rie almost wished she had drawn him in a more innocent, peaceful pose. His portrayed stance reminded her too much of how aggressive he still was, and brought back memories of their painful departure.

He said she was a weakness to him, and for that he had to cut her loose.

A part of her felt guilt for her pride and vanity in insisting the unfair nature of him abandoning her for greater strength, but she saw that he had changed since Pandora. Any traces of innocence had seemed to vanish entirely. He pounced on one of his long time friends to mutilate him to not allow Kal'sik to track them, and selfishly set out to lead an assault against Kal'sik's armada over New Cybertron with only a few others.

And he had paid the price.

But as he was imprisoned, a single glimmer of mercy for the human, Se'rie felt part of her was shackled as he was now. With that thought, Se'rie wiped a tear away, the grief of losing her friend, ally, and one whom she desired to be a mate with despite the alien differences, resurfacing again since his capture three months ago.

Sighing, Se'rie went back to sleep, trying to bury these memories so she could get some rest.

**29th December 2901**

**Ba'hras system. Dev'ral, Peragoth colony**

Morning was more pleasant, as there was a family reunion of sorts going on in the family home. Se'rie stood to one side, glancing around as she saw the mixed group of people whom now lived with or near her.

Her Uncle Norstith, still in his robotic body unfortunately, laughed lightly at a story that Ja'hail was telling aloud from his work as a security mercenary, while Yal'hesk asked questions of interest to the male Kro'nogri.

On the balcony outside, Se'rie spotted Kail'aris standing with back leaned against her brother's side, while he closed his wing over her wing, both of them atop her belly. After a

**30th December 2901**

**Ki'ristalis, Government apartment complex 3H**

Surveying the surrounding plaza, the lone figure checked the information it had been given. It was not a critical mission, but it had the potential to yield further information that could be used as a weapon to end the war.

As such, it was perhaps debatable over whether such an upcoming act of random terrorism would be worth the risk over the 'potential' evidence. However, the indicators of such evidence were surprising, and overlooked in wake of the revelations of other evidence exposed concerning Zoran's past.

Standing by, the Klingon maintenance worker, with a ridged forehead covered in work helmet with holographic visor display, was hunched over his work area, a building system terminal. A lone human passed by, a wife of one of the workers living in the apartment complex. She gave a friendly wave as the Klingon gazed towards her, noticing her presence.

The Klingon half paid attention, and returned to his work, inputing new codes for the building's security systems to operate in an emergency.

Beneath the dark matter coated disguise, the synthetic human shaped being would have given a smirk of amusement at the woman's unawareness of what would happen in the next few minutes. But Raxler was not organic, and saw fit to emulate emotion only when it suited him in interaction, never for use alone.

Typing in the new code line, Raxler sent a message off to its colleagues to check their work progress.

Raxler's 'colleagues' checked their work one final time. One female human, clad in a set of protective overalls, finished placing the crate on the rooftop.

Setting the controls appropriately, Lexa, also dark matter disguised as a similar sized woman of Mexican descent, ran a quick DNA scan with her visor to check there were no traces of her DNA. With no DNA traced, Lexa began to leave the rooftop, making her way to the service elevator, flashing her 'employee' badge to the scanner.

With all in place, Raxler scanned the building records, confirming that Zoran was in at the moment, situated in his large scale government held apartment on the 120th floor.

Of course, to those who knew, this apartment was small compared to what Zoran discretely owned with the vast wealth he had accumulated. Such was the benefits of massive war profiteering and playing the stock market on both sides of the conflict, the Alliance before war broke out, and the UIP just as it broke out.

The message was then sent.

Beginning the next phase, Raxler made his way indoors, still disguised as the worker Klingon, and set to work on his scheduled elevator shaft re-wiring.

30 minutes later, out in the distance, an air car taxi was flying by, travelling a charted ride to go past the Central Intelligence Bureau apartment complex and on towards a further destination.

Unknown to anyone other than Lexa and Raxler, the air car was empty, controlled remotely as most cars were, just devoid of passengers. This would normally be dismissed as a cab on route to its hub or to pick up passengers, but no one could predict what happened next.

As the air car came within a kilometre of the CIB apartment complex tower, on the 100th story rooftop of an adjacent apartment building, a small, metallic covered box sprung open, and in 3 seconds, the hidden missile launcher locked on, and fired a 3 missile volley. Almost immediately after firing the missiles, the launcher self destructed.

From the rooftop, the 3 streaks of light and vapour flew, and 2 seconds later, they met the air car. All 3 missiles detonated in proximity to the air car, sending the vulnerable craft careening out of the air.

Inside the car, the emergency landing programming kicked in, calculating the safest route to a landing. But this car had been hacked, and its definition of safe was somewhat warped.

Smoking from the fragments of the missile burst, the air car flew directly into the CIB apartment complex building, smashing into the 112th story floor windows. An unlucky Grey was in the hallway when the wall smashed inwards from the crash, crushing him instantly. Further in, chaos erupted as the car stopped, but volatile hydrogen fuel leaked and began to evaporate from the fuel tanks. Inside rooms above the car crash, the next few minutes were marred by an organized scramble down safe stairwells, and up towards the roof for rooftop evacuations by air shuttle.

Nobody noticed that even before the car had crashed, a cloaked Klingon had silently made his way up through the elevator shaft that he had supposedly been 'rewiring', climbing up the deactivated elevator shaft with dark matter tendrils and simple metal claws. By the time the car crashed, Raxler was already on floor 120, and waiting.

In the hallway, Raxler saw everyone who left, including workers, their families and other staff. Finally, Raxler saw Zoran leaving, a composed look of worry on his face as he made his way to the emergency stairwell for an airlift from the building. He was carrying nothing but his personal items.

Setting the car 8 floors below to detonate on his command, Raxler walked, and forced his way into Zoran's apartment. As part of rewiring the elevator and adding emergency measures to the building coding, Raxler had deactivated the apartment alarms for forced entry or an intruder during a general emergency such as this.

Making his way in, Raxler used the information he had to go on.

_Jarothes Hutreck presented his findings with Krith Lovisk by his side, while Lexa, Raxler, Xale, Azula, Kirth, La'kias, Norstith, Ja'hail, Aru'san and Shockwave listened intently._

_Simply put, Jarothes had found an imbedded message within the data from Bal'toro's sources, recovered digitally from Norstith's head, and from the information both he and Krith Lovisk uncovered, exposing more than just Zoran's guilt and his past as Oro'naze. There were records of him hording data for himself, either for personal use or protection, which included copies of seized evidence from traitors to the CIB._

_Recent hacking of low secrecy CIB databases revealed that there were numerous documents once held by Jarothes's uncle that were seized by the CIB, and put on record as copied and stored privately by Zoran for his private files. This was suspicious, as the records also showed some documents being quickly destroyed once added, and erased from official records._

_And as such, with the organization of an appropriate 'distraction' to break into Zoran's government apartment, it was worth investigating as quickly and as effectively as possible._

_Predictably this made Raxler the best bet for the job, but nobody complained about this fact._

Alarms silenced, Raxler quickly scanned the room, locating any and all computer servers and data storage devices. Nothing would be omitted from his search, he would take all of it in its physical form, hard drives and all.

Within seconds, Raxler first reached the main console on Zoran's work desk, ripping out the hard drive to save the data inside, and placed it inside a storage compartment in his back. Working around the apartment, Raxler gathered up any and all data devices.

8 floors below, inside the remnants of the crashed hovercar, a small drone punctured a leak in the hydrogen storage tanks, and exposed the metal hydride tanks to the flames from the crash, heating them to release their precious gas.

The flames were not enough to light the gas right away, but they would go up with a bang. Raxler would ensure it.

Now finished gathering the data devices, Raxler engaged his cloaking dark matter layer, and deployed an equipped wing suit fabric as he reached the 112th floor, passing by the crashed hovercar, now leaking hydrogen because of the sabotaging drone.

The sabotaging drone deployed an incendiary charge, and leapt onto Raxler's cloaked back, cloaking as it joined him, and within moments, the AI soldier had leapt from the building, gliding away invisibly on his wing suit equipment.

The precautions and safety on behalf of the citizens and Raxler with Lexa had been taken, and at that moment, nobody was within 80 floors of the hovercar when the sabotage drone's incendiary charge detonated.

The mixture of leaking hydrogen and air detonated violently, a large amount of absorbed hydrogen detonating with enough force to make the building collapse within 12 floors.

The building design was to save weight and be overall safe. Built like a frame structure, each frame segment held up to 15 floors height, divided into quarter segments. By the designs, the hydrogen-oxygen explosion crumbled only the 12 floors in one section of the building, leaving the rest perfectly standing.

Zoran's apartment was crumbled completely, leaving no evidence that Raxler had ever been there. And it would be presumed that the computer equipment had perished in the crumbling. Not that it was a problem, as any important files once there had only ever been copies of CIB documents.

**1 day later.**

**1st January 2902**

The hired shuttle had dropped out of FTL, having travelled from Ki'ristalis to an outer UIP mining colony, making 1 fuel stop along the 600 light year distance. As it ejected its waste for an eventual burn up entry into the nearby star, the shuttle engaged a micro jump to FTL, saving time on the last few hundred million kilometres.

Unwritten on records, a human female and male appearing human AI were aboard one of the large waste containers, waiting pickup.

On cue, a former KI aligned Destroyer dropped out of cloaking, approaching the garbage pod for a pickup, with the star's radiation disrupting its signature to sensors.

Within half an hour, the ship was gone.

**3rd January 2902**

**Konurich station, Alliance space.**

The massive space station, once the capital of the joint Alliance territory, was now held completely by the resurgent Decepticons. The station had been evacuated of prisoners and civilians alike, either by fleeing, or by forced exodus by the new station controllers.

Aboard the station, Shockwave had finished listening to a message, relayed by a UIP Central Intelligence Bureau official, specifically Zoran. The message came with a UIP black ops team, currently on standby aboard the station with the Deceptions, which had been tasked with a mission of a paramount, but last resort tactical objective.

Not one to lose control, Shockwave held his stance as he listened to the UIP CIB Chief, fully aware of his precious actions of perhaps intentionally instigating the war, profiting off it, killing the only other secret scout/ambassador, and working with Kal'sik to spare his home world in a secret, small scale deal, in which one action involved brainwashing Shockwave with a highly advanced virus. The virus made Shockwave deliver space bridge schematics to Kal'sik for the unsuccessful Varya operations.

Despite Shockwave's hidden personal feelings, or what little there were of them besides a temporarily suspended desire for revenge, he found Zoran's plan to be an intriguing option should all else fail.

The Black Ops team had been tasked with carrying a bomb, a 10 megaton fusion device, to act as an ultimatum for, in the very least, a temporary ceasefire. Zoran's plan was to arrange a bomb threat, hopefully aligned as a simple, non UIP terrorist threat, in order to negotiate a ceasefire by threatening one of the Alliance Homeworlds. With the developments in the war, and slightly deteriorating Leg'hrul/Kro'nogri relations, and with the Leg'hul having supported the Dreadnought raids less, it was decided that the ideal target was the Kro'nogri homeworld.

Admittedly, in Shockwave's perspective, it was a solid plan if exercised as a last resort, or perhaps earlier if the time was right. The bomb was not necessarily intended to be detonated, and a team of Decepticons, or even one, could sneak into the Kro'nogri homeworld's capital city and hide it, staying near to guard it.

Cause of the war or not, Shockwave could for now utilize Zoran's apparent need to end the war for the benefit of the UIP, and Cybertronians. And he knew of a few select Decepticons whom he could call upon as the initial team.

Shockwave contacted Soundwave:

"**Soundwave, I require information on the current status of select individual Decepticon recruits. I am choosing them for a recent mission sent by UIP CIB Chief Zoran, of which the file shall be attached with this message."**

A few moments later, and Soundwave responded:

"**Commander Shockwave, selected Decepticons are as follows."**

"**Brawl, front line shock trooper leader, alternate mode usually heavy assault or tank based vehicles. Recommendation, not suited for infiltration, use as assault trooper."**

"**Blackout, heavy assault and deep penetration attacker, alternate mode usually shuttle sized air or space craft. Recommendation, useful for infiltration as transport for bomb or black ops unit, and use as assault trooper."**

"**Starscream, seeker commander and aerial superiority specialist, alternate mode usually fighter air or spacecraft. Recommendation, unsuited to infiltration, and psychology predicts attempt to commandeer mission himself if unsupervised."**

"**Tyrania Vega, scout team leader, alternate mode usually small sized civilian or military vehicles. Recommendation, suited for infiltration, but psyche profile makes lack of superior officer supervision risky, her ruthless and reckless demeanour risk compromising the mission if left unchecked."**

"**Barricade, shock trooper and scout leader, alternate mode usually small to medium sized civilian or military ground vehicles. Recommendation, suited to infiltration, can follow orders reliably, no psychological problems to address."**

Musing for a moment, Shockwave began to rule out any of the 5 he had thought for the infiltration mission, where those he ruled out he might use later if things escalated.

Brawl was obviously unsuited, his size, lack of subtlety and skill set were poor for the task at hand. Blackout was perfect for the job, he could transport the bomb and the Black ops team, or even Barricade, who was also a definite choice for the mission. Barricade had been a reliable scout and soldier under Megatron, and under UIP limited service and under his command, Shockwave could count on Barricade.

Starscream was difficult, but Shockwave decided that he could use Starscream as a backup, not directly involved in the mission, but place him there to maintain a watch on the progress.

Shockwave decided that for safety, he might as well send Soundwave with whomever he sent, Blackout and Barricade being definite, Starscream going indirectly. Soundwave could keep any unruly members in check while he himself maintained the rest of the Decepticons.

Tyrania would go also, provided that Soundwave could go. While volatile, she was well respected, by both her reputation as a scout leader, ruthless soldier, and by her lineage. Her lineage was something she was both proud and spiteful of.

After all, the granddaughter of Megatron himself would garner much respect from the Decepticons. Born of an illegitimate daughter of the warlord, born herself from a casual sparkbonding before he fled for the Allspark, Tyrania was herself only 600 years old, her mother sparking her a few centuries after her father fell, as she relaxed from his wrath.

Her pride and vanity over her grandfather's reputation would make Tyrania keen to take up this mission of paramount importance, this Shockwave was certain of.

**Exams held me up again, please comment and read, I could use the feedback.**


	29. Chapter 29

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 29: Out of Hell, into the Labyrinth.**

**11****th**** January 2902**

**Fetal'ra system, Planet Ras'hana, Ral'craz prison.**

Predictably, news of the war hardly ever trickled down into the scorched, cell block lined hellhole that was Ral'craz prison. When it did come however, it was met with intent hearing, the prisoners were eager to hear about the outside world they were sealed away from.

Sheltering under a small rock formation, Alex was sat beside Razid and Moko'tel, the Arabic human sitting beneath the shade to protect from the harsh sunlight, and Moko'tel nearby, his mandibles flexing as he exhaled from the heat. The Predator's sweat glands were not enough to ventilate the heat from his repto-mammal body, and panting was an involuntary effect of the 130 degree heat.

They had recently heard interesting news from the war. First, that the Dreadnoughts had been pulled back, no longer attacking homeworlds, their weaknesses somewhat exposed, and were now being used as flagships in large scale, less one sided space battles and UIP border planetary assaults,

Second, and most importantly, the Resurgent Decepticons had captured Konurich station entirely. To isolate the Decepticons, the Alliance had cut off FTL transit routes to the interstellar capital station, hoping to starve them out. They didn't count on the Decepticons establishing an energon manufacturing plant on the station, and now the Decepticons had an isolated, but strong fortress deep in Alliance territory.

This was a spark of hope for some prisoners, even many UIP members being desperate enough to trust those labelled again as Decepticons. In the past 2 weeks there had been 7 escape attempts, with 3 of them failing to scale the cliff face around the quarry pit rim, falling to their deaths in the 1.5 G gravity. The other 4 were either captured in the day as they escaped by guards and returned after a harsh beating, or in 2 cases, escaped at night, and not found until the next day, dead from dehydration, or a predator attack.

This was a key clue for Alex to begin devising an actual escape plan.

He and the four others, Razid, Kae'tano, Moko'tel and Je'rol had combined their knowledge of the prison so far, including escape attempts from the other four. Climbing the quarry rim was the first challenge, with the second challenge being escaping into the jungle, the only usable escape route, without being caught by guards.

The third challenge was hardest, as the jungle was full of predators, dangerous plants and deadly diseases and fungi. All this was added on top of any other obstacles such as navigating or finding food if too much time was taken.

The first 2 challenges were the easiest, as they all noticed that escapes were more successful in those stages when they were done by physically able races, and/or done at night, when the watch towers seemed to be less alert.

Trouble was, the jungle was more dangerous at night. So naturally, but with no less difficulty, a compromise was devised. And as the best candidate for a successful escape attempt with him being fresh, and having cyborg enhancements, Alex volunteered. Or rather, he was volunteered by everyone but himself.

It was a concern to the human that Je'rol showed some capability of damaging even metallic wiring and light armour with his mouth. And he would choose disease and jungle threats over being eaten by a fellow sapient any day. It was just another reason for wanting to get out of the prison quarry.

Sneaking away, Alex silently crossed the quarry pit, his eyes accustomed to the darkness cast by the 400 metre tall surrounding rock walls of the quarry pit. It was the middle of the planet's night cycle, and the prison was silent, the watch towers all but dark.

He had agreed with Razid, Je'rol, Kae'tano and Moko'tel to go at night, when it was the best chance to escape, and risk the jungle for a few hours until daylight. From what he gathered, the spaceport town a few dozen miles away was situated along a river, and that same town was downstream along the river running through the jungle.

It was simple, find the river, and use it to reach the town. And with just enough dark matter, Alex could either threaten his way out, or disguise himself if need be.

Reaching the side of the quarry pit, Alex estimated the slope, putting it at just below vertical. In that case, it meant he would not fall all the way down if he lost his grip, he'd simply roll at high speed and lose his clothes, chip his metallic limbs and fatally skin his torso and head if he fell.

There was total blackness, except for the stars in the sky, and Alex could only barely see the cliff face he had to climb. He recalled his days back in the Frosian military academy, where one gruelling test involved a cliff climb exercise. Of course, back then there were emergency hover drones to catch anyone who fell.

Blindly, he grabbed the cliff face before him, and gripped, his metal claws digging into the rock wall. Slowly and deliberately, Alex began to climb. As a former quarry, the rock walls were very steep and smooth, and all a rest would constitute would be a stop in climbing.

Still, a few metres were down in a minute, only between 300 and 400 metres of near vertical cliff to climb.

Down below, the other four prisoners were busy preparing for the next stage of the plan.

Put simply, once Alex was up, he was to act as bait, or distract the guards with some event or display, and cause chaos to erupt. In that chaos, there would be an inspired riot, in which the other four would climb out of the pit, presumably among others with a similar idea of escape.

With their own small brand of dark matter shared, Je'rol and Moko'tel would use it to disguise themselves as they climbed, as both were considered the most dangerous of the four collaborators. Razid and Kae'tano would escape undisguised, but they were more skilled climbers than the other 2 anyway.

At the base, Je'rol mused to himself: "What exactly would the signal for us to start a riot be?"

"It was uncertain, but Alex said it would be something big, something that would draw the guards to it in the masses." Said Razid.

"He'll start a forest fire." Moko'tel said.

All the other three looked at the Predator, asking: "What!? He might risk killing us if he does that!"

"Yes, but I told him to do it. There are plants that are highly flammable, and a forest fire would definitely draw the guards in. On one of my escape attempts, I made it over the edge of the cliff, and I was in the forest for about 3 hours before I was caught and placed back in here. I had experimented with making a small fire to try and start a larger one to distract them anyway, when I saw that fluids carried by many plants on this world are flammable, a form of flammable digestive enzyme, or a flammable defensive fluid. He starts a fire, provided he's well clear of it, and he will keep the guards distracted easily."

"And why didn't you do it when you tried to escape that time?" Asked Kae'tano, his eye ridge twitching in a questioning manner.

"I told you, I was caught before I could find an area suitable. The whole forest is like a minefield of acidic and/or highly flammable bombs, and a wrong choice of starting a fire could cause yourself harm." Moko'tel explained, losing his patience somewhat.

Looking up, Razid saw the cliff's top rim, presumably to which Alex should be a third of the way up by now. Looking back, Razid said: "This escape now seems more suicidal. Perhaps we should just stay down here?"

Je'rol had enough, and said simply: "No, we're getting out, that cyborg human's not leaving us down here. Besides, it will only go to ruin if he picks a wrong spot in the forest."

Looking up, Moko'tel says: "He still needs to get up and over the ridge first."

After 20 minutes, Alex was near the top, his shoulders aching slightly from the effort, despite finding numerous small ledges to sit on for brief intervals before continuing. He may have had mechanical arms, but he still felt some strain from them. The 1.5 G gravity was not a helping matter, and had delayed his climb.

But his troubles were yet to come, and he knew that very well.

Looking back, Alex knew that the planet's sun was due to rise in roughly 4 hours, so the search towers around the rest of the quarry rim were alert. They would spot anyone escaping, and Alex's dark matter was not enough to cloak himself, not even one side of himself.

But it was enough to coat his exposed skin.

Looking at the last 10 metres, Alex prepared to climb and run, not knowing what was over the edge.

On the opposite side of the rim, an automated drone watched the crater rim with infra red scanners. Scanning the opposite side of the quarry 600 metres away, the drone zoomed in on a faint heat source. Magnifying the target, it recognized not the heat of the body, but the prison uniform. Alex's dark matter had concealed his body heat on his climb, but the cameras spotted him the moment he climbed over the top.

Alarms blared, and searchlights erupted into the night, as Alex tore off from the crater rim, running maniacally towards the jungle's edge.

As the guards began to head around the crater, Alex had entered the jungle.

All around him twisted vines and alien trees and ferns surrounded him. Alex frantically searched and searched for specific plant types, ripping off his prison uniform sleeves, exposing his mechanical upper arms.

Leaping over a fallen, rotting log, Alex picked up a pair of snapped off branches from the ground, the wood feeling surprisingly smooth in his mechanical grip. Taking a ripped sleeve each time, he wrapped the sleeves around the end of a stick each, making a makeshift torch.

Hearing the distant sounds of guards approaching, Alex finished up and took off into the jungle.

Here, Alex felt a rush of memories of skills he had learnt in his time among the Omaticaya, learning how to hear the forest, how to sense the surroundings and be alert to any changes. He ran like wind, quietly, ducking and weaving to slip through obstacles with minimal disturbance.

As he dashed past a tree, Alex backstepped, almost yelling in triumph as he saw the plant he was looking for. A pitcher plant of sorts, the pitcher plant roughly 7 feet tall, surrounded by numerous colourful leaves extending 4 feet from the plant and nearly 2 feet wide. Cautious, having been told by Moko'tel of the basic initial signs from this plant, Alex picked up a small twig, and carefully jabbed at one of the colourful leaves.

Almost immediately, the plant leaf had the twig trapped, closing around it like a Venus fly trap as the twig was adhesively stuck to the leaf. Then, the leaf itself began to curl in towards the main pitcher plant, the twig wrapped firmly in its grasp.

The twig was hung into the top of the pitcher, where the leaf unfurled, the twig dropping inside. Now Alex saw a basic of how this plant operated.

The jungle soil was starved, as the larger trees fought for minerals, so this plant had evolved to use minerals as a backup. Its main diet was small animals, insect sized or even small creatures the size of Alex's hands. The pitcher plant was a well of digestive acids from which nothing escaped.

And as Moko'tel had told Alex from his brief escape, those same digestive fluids were also highly flammable.

Taking both long sticks together side by side, Alex dipped the sleeve wrapped ends inside the pitcher, the leaves unresponsive. Dipping them into the pool of digestive juices, Alex began to pull back. Resistance built, and Alex pulled the sticks out, yanking them free of inward curling spikes within the plant.

It was then the plant revealed an unknown defence.

As Alex yanked the sticks free, the plant had opened a valve of sorts, a mechanism to attack any prey that attempted to escape after freeing itself from the pitcher, or a would be attacker. The dead body would either eventually be grabbed by one of the leaves, or used as bait to lure in other, scavenging creatures for food.

Unable to respond, Alex was too late to dodge the small, generally aimed stream of digestive acid. Normally aimed for the eyes, the stream was somehow poorly aimed, and missed the eyes. Alex gagged slightly as he felt the stream spray into his mouth, wetting his lips and gums slightly, some of it even tricking down his throat, choking as he had inhaled a small bit in surprise.

Stumbling away, yet not feeling any toxic effects, merely a watery taste, Alex dismissed the strange projectile, and set about using his hands as a form of knife and flint, scratching his digits to get sparks. After a few tries, he had a technique, and put the first torch down to his fingers as he scratched them together.

The torch began to flare to life, and immediately Alex brought the second torch to his other, lighting that one also. As the area lit up, Alex saw he had stumbled into a perfect trap for animals, and a perfect starting point for his fire.

The area was surrounded by multiple pitcher plants like the one he had just milked for flammable acid, and he saw other plants that Moko'tel recommended, including giant pods, filled with a flammable, light gas to help them air travel across plant to spread seeds when released, similar to a Pandoran plant, minus the flight travel.

A minefield of plant bombs in a way.

Alex felt his throat growing scratchy, dismissing it as anticipation, and with all his strength, he threw the torches in different directions, setting fire to ferns at the base of the ground, and the tree bases.

Running away, Alex knocked a pitcher plant around, spilling some flammable acid onto the ground beside it. He wanted a trail of flammable liquid to lead to one plant at least, as one catching fire would start the rest.

Darting off into the night, Alex heard the guards yelling to head for the fire, guessing that's where he was.

As he ran, Alex felt his throat growing scratchier, and his lips began to chafe, and burn. Immediately he knew something was wrong, and he thought back. His thoughts hit on the plant, the acid it spit onto him, his lips, his inside mouth.

Down his throat, and into his windpipe.

Running from the growing fire, Alex grew more and more desperate, biting back a scream of panic as the acid worked itself slowly on his throat. He desperately thought about how he might fix this problem, but he had acid in a place where it was not easily washed out.

Bursting into a clearing, a small, unseen animal scurrying into the undergrowth, Alex began to cough, gagging as he felt what seemed to him as a burning throat infection.

The yells of the distant guards suddenly became more alarmed, as some distant roars of flames and even a few small explosions sounded.

But the growing forest fire and detonating plants a few hundred metres away were insignificant to the human. He finally began to exhale in panic, and he knew it was getting worse, as his voice started to crack, and his mouth emitted a harsh, scratchier version of his moderately pitched voice. His lips began to burn, and his mouth was on fire.

Raw survival instincts flowed through Alex, as the unusual situation became worse inside his body. Growing desperate, Alex heard running water, and tore off, grunting and gagging as he ran, pain growing gradually, urging him to hurry.

He spotted the noise's source, a small stream, flowing on the jungle floor, about a foot deep. In the better part of his mind, Alex knew he could follow this stream to reach the river he sought to locate the spaceport town.

But his more desperate thoughts turned to the water itself, and what he had to risk if he wanted to not be digested from the inside of his own throat and trachea.

Getting on all fours, Alex struggled to level his breathing, crying out slightly from the pain, and thrust his head underwater. He waited a few seconds, and as the pain in his throat grew with the working acid, he saw no other way to wash the acid out.

With his head submerged in the stream, and while fighting his better instincts, Alex inhaled.

Further away, the fire raged, the plants igniting left and right, some detonating like grenades as the flammable juices inside caught fire.

Guards began to slightly abandon thoughts of catching the escapees, now not just a lone human, and were diverting attention to stopping the forest fire. The roar of the flames echoed and shone in the very early morning darkness.

Among the flames, a select few dashed through the chaos, the flames their cover from the guards.

Je'rol bounded through the forest, his claws catching on branches and roots, propelling him faster. Behind him, Razid ran in pursuit, panting from the effort and heat. The Sril'sask stopped briefly, checking his bearings, smelling for the faintest of human odours among the jungle.

Just as he caught a faint whiff, the flames trickled into a plant pod group nearby.

The pods caught fire, bursting open explosively, burning digestive fluid spraying all around. Je'rol was jumping away, his right flank burning, peppered with burning acid, as he found Alex's scent.

Behind him, Razid yelled in pain, with some of the acid having spilt on his lower left arm, outstretched by instinct to protect from the small plant pod explosions. Glancing around desperately, he yelled to Je'rol: "We must find Alex, and the river! We can wash these fluids off there!"

Feeling his flank getting more and more painful, Je'rol grunted a reply, and took off through the jungle brush, towards a human scent. Razid trailed behind, resisting the urge to rub the acid burn on his lower left arm, as it may spread the acid. The Arabic man saw a faint stumble appearing in Je'rol's running, and hoped that they could wash this acid off soon.

In another part of the jungle, Moko'tel and Kae'tano dashed through the undergrowth, being chased by a pair of armed guards.

Behind them, a falling tree blocked the path between them and the guards, the fiery splinters flying upwards in the raging fire. All around them heat rose, as the guards shouted to retreat.

A cracking sound above them was what alerted them.

Kae'tano looked up, and leapt out of the way of the falling branch, the fiery wood crashing to the floor beside him. Moko'tel cried out in alarm, his mandibles wide in surprise. Above him, another branch fell.

The branch smashed onto the Predator's head, rolling off and down his body as Moko'tel fell backwards from the impact, stunned.

Over the roar of the flames, Kae'tano rushed to Moko'tel's aid. The Predator was more useful alive than dead. Rushing over, Kae'tano grabbed the burning branch, having settled on Moko'tel's legs. The male Predator was still dazed, and with a great amount of pain, Kae'tano gripped the log and shoved it off the Predator's legs.

Hands burning, Kae'tano grabbed Moko'tel, pulling him to his feet, yelling as they stumbled through the forest, Kae'tano ignoring his burning hands and the heat around them: "Stay awake Predator!"

A few stray bullets sounded in the forest, as guards blindly fired into the blazing inferno. A scream was heard over the fire, the result of a stray shot.

Finally, a clearing emerged, and Kae'tano rushed to it, Moko'tel still half supported on his shoulder.

Bursting out, Kae'tano yelled in triumph, the glimmering river before them a gorgeous sight to behold. Bending over, the fire still raging a few metres behind them, Kae'tano splashed water onto Moko'tel's face, reawakening the Predator with a shock.

Immediately, Moko'tel numbly clutched his head, staring back at the fiery forest, and the river, with great confusion. Some blood seeped slightly from Moko'tel's forehead, and his legs began to burn.

Shoving Moko'tel into the river to soak his burns, Kae'tano became alert, as a segment of river edge further downstream rustled with disturbed, not yet burning foliage.

Je'rol and Razid burst from the rainforest, barely acknowledging the river before they all but leapt into it.

Between the Human/Sril'sask pair, another human roughly stumbled out, collapsing with a drawn out, rasping cough as he spotted the river, kneeling down instantly to submerge his head.

Seeing they all had somehow made it out in one piece, Kae'tano wracked his brain over the next stage of their makeshift escape plan as the others soaked their wounds.

2 hours later, and Kae'tano had taken the initiative in leading the four downstream, following the river banks, avoiding the jungle. They all were still suffering to some degree from their acid related, or in Moko'tel's case, concussion and burn related injuries.

Je'rol and Razid, having washed off any acid, carried Moko'tel, slinging him over Je'rol's back, as the concussion was too risky to have Moko'tel walk. Alex trailed a few feet behind, hacking slightly and coughing, his mouth enflamed and burning slightly along with his throat and windpipe.

The damage had been done, and Je'rol had suffered scarring to his right flank and thigh, but was otherwise fine. Razid had suffered marginally less, the acid scarring his skin only on his lower left arm, albeit it had turned his semi dark skin a mottled, sickly reddish colour. All of them still stung.

Alex had suffered badly, the acid damaging his throat and mouth tissue, and seeping down his windpipe. By his coughing and exhaling, the damage was worse than expected in an unusual way. Alex's voice had become raspy, less discernable, as the acid had dissolved his vocal chords themselves slightly, before he voluntarily near drowned himself to wash it out repeatedly.

It would seem that despite the setbacks, all 5 had escaped, but now faced another challenge. They were still trapped on the planet itself, and the only way off was from the spaceport colony. Unfortunately, more setbacks would make their journey more perilous, and literally place them in deeper trouble than when they were in the prison quarry.

Looking out, Kae'tano saw the distant searchlights from the aircraft scanning the forest in the distance, blockading the river route and parallel rainforest as safe routes. Between themselves and the colony was 9 miles of terrain now doggedly watched by quarry prison security and the colony security forces.

Climbing down, Kae'tano leapt to the rainforest floor, summarizing: "The direct route's not an option, we'll be caught for sure, even if you were all Alliance races."

"So that's it then, we're stuck in the forest, exposed to who knows how many diseases and creatures we've never seen. We were better off back in the quarry." Commented Razid, failing to see any light in the situation at hand. Beside him, Alex scowled, nodding in agreement as he drank from the stream. The upside was that there was no shortage of drinking water, as long as one ignored the risks of water borne diseases. Je'rol scratched the dirt with his toe claws, gazing around at the ground, tree roots and ferns. He asked in a bored tone: "What exactly is this colony's place on this world?"

Moko'tel answered: "Aside from housing guards of the Alliance's toughest prison? It's a mining colony, the quarry prison is a disused site. Its all done through tunnels in the mountains now."

"How do you know this?" Croaked Alex, his words just discernable over his rasping voice. As the human succumbed to a new bout of light coughing, Moko'tel said: "I paid attention to the guards talking, which led to one of my escape failures. I hung around too long and was caught."

Kae'tano sat in thought, his memories going back to previous dealings in his life. He recalled life on his home plant, in a built up Kro'nogri spaceport city on one of his race's earliest settled systems, where between 15 and 20 years ago he ran a smuggling ring for the city's criminal syndicates illegal weapons market. He had organized using the sewer tunnel network, with camera blinding EMP weapons, to ship weapons under cover from the police.

He asked Moko'tel: "Those mining tunnels? Are they a network stretching around the colony?" Moko'tel nodded in confirmation, which led to Kae'tano saying: "Then that's how we'll get into the colony, we'll sneak through those tunnels, using disused tunnels if we can."

It was a vague plan, but more than they had a mere few hours ago.

Two hours later, having ducked past one patrol and sticking to sections of thick, stiflingly hot undergrowth, the five escapees arrived at the base of the mountain range. The morning sun had begun to heat up the jungle already, helping mask any basic body heat signatures of the five.

The mountains stretched like a horseshoe shape, encircling the colony, the prison quarry a dozen miles south of the colony, and the mountains occupying the west and north rims of the colony, and stretching in a straight line to the east.

At the opening to the jungle, Razid saw a mine tunnel opening, leading them to it. A few miles away, the aircraft still searched the jungle, the daylight now illuminating the jungle environment and the mountain side.

Reaching the tunnel mouth, the escapees gazed into the tunnel. The tunnel was disused, shut down. A pair of signs marked the entrance, saying: **Protected species habitat. **More worryingly was the second sign: **High level animal hazard. Level 4 security access required.**

Looking down into the dark tunnel, Alex was adamant, and said as clearly as he could muster with his ruined vocal chords: "No."

"It's the only way to get to the colony without getting caught." Moko'tel said.

Scowling, Alex nodded, as the sight of a passing search aircraft alerted them to an approaching patrol.

Descending into the dark tunnel, Moko'tel pulled out some sticks, and with Alex scratching his metal claws together, sparked them alight into torches. Handing one to Kae'tano and one to Razid, and keeping a third fro himself, Moko'tel led them further down into the dark tunnel, winding and descending, until the entrance mouth's light disappeared.

**Really long delay, exams again, and busy with a new job, and a writer's block.**

**I profusely apologize to my readers. Please review, and constructive criticism is welcome.**


	30. Chapter 30

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 30: Colony of Fear part 1.**

**11****th**** January 2902, early morning.**

**Fetal'ra system, Planet Ras'hana, Disused mining tunnels.**

Darkness surrounded the torch lit group like a vast ocean, and the mine tunnel walls seemed to move in to crush them.

Their footsteps echoing in the tunnels, the group marched on. They had descended for a long time, spiralling downwards, remnants of mining hardware embedded in the walls at intervals.

For 20 minutes they walked, the passage winding and turning at intervals, until they finally reached a large, open cavern.

Raising his torch, Razid walked into the hall, and gasped at the sight.

Before the group, a long, vast cavern extended, the ceiling 20 metres above, and stretching on into seemingly endless lengths of darkness. Around the floor were remnants of mining laser tools, a few hover carts for hauling minerals, and scattered gemstones and unrefined metal rocks.

Proceeding further in, the group stayed close. It was then that Moko'tel, his Predator eyesight keen in darkness with natural infra-red vision and visible, noticed the passage curved slightly:

"It appears that this passage goes on for a long while, a central area of the mine. If we follow it to the other end, we should eventually find more passages, hopefully to the surface."

The five marched on, the silence permeated by the sound of a faint rumble, and the echoes of footsteps. Alex hacked and coughed once or twice, but otherwise they were silent.

Je'rol was the first to notice something strange: "The walls, the mining floor doesn't extend all the way, and the wall structures aren't all in place, some have fallen down, like the walls weren't there anymore."

Indeed, the walls were worn away, the platforms and machinery once imbedded into them now strewn on the floor in various states of condition. The digging was too uneven for manmade excavation, but neither was it formed by the wind or water.

The rumble grew louder, and Kae'tano looked at a wall suddenly, and pointed to it. Getting the idea, Razid ran over, his footsteps like a roar in the dark mine tunnel, and pressed a hand against the wall.

The Arabic man felt a rumble, and pressed his ear to the wall.

"Water, its running water."

His calm voice carried through the tunnel, and Moko'tel thought for a moment:

"An underground river perhaps? It must feed either into or from the one we followed before the mines."

"But why is there so much packed dirt and rocks to the right?" croaked Alex. Looking there, they all noticed a mound of rocks, dirt and gemstones piled against the wall a few metres down, stretching for dozens of metres. It was densely packed together, and in some places glistened.

Walking over, Kae'tano felt the pounded wall, and he recoiled his hand quickly: "Its sticky!"

"No Kro'nogri or Leg'hrul made this, but it's been placed where the underground river comes closest to the tunnel." Moko'tel said.

Suddenly, the sound of scraping echoed from the darkness, further down the supposed wall mound. Sticking together, the five walked on, senses fully alert now. Through the dark they walked, and the wall mound was still visible for a hundred metres.

Something moved in the dark ahead, and the scraping continued. As the light shone on the mound ahead, something glossy black and brown, thin and long, disappeared around a corner. The wall mound had ended, as did the uninterrupted 'hallway'.

The torchlight flickered, and Je'rol motioned for Moko'tel to follow him. The two rounded the corner slowly, and shone the light around the corner.

No creature was seen, just a tunnel deeper into the mines, where the rumbling increased in volume. The tunnel was dug by an animal, or many, and was very large, almost 4 metres wide and 3 metres tall. Out of the sides, the glistening coating was very visible, and coated the walls of the tunnel.

Coming around, Kae'tano was followed by the two humans. Something crunched beneath the Kro'nogri crimelord's foot, and he instantly looked down.

A darkened, old arm bone, from a Kro'nogri, the glistening coating sticking it to the floor.

Yelling slightly in shock, Kae'tano leapt back, almost dropping the torch he held. Coming in front, Razid and Alex looked down the passage, hearing the rumbling coming from inside.

Je'rol motioned for Razid to follow him, leaving the others behind.

In the passage, a faint glow appeared as they rounded one corner, further reflecting off the slimy wall coating.

"Its everywhere now, we must be close." Razid stated. However, before he said anymore, they saw the source of the noise.

The torch shone into the dark, reflecting off the large cavern, eroded by an underground waterfall, splashing into a plunge pool a few dozen feet below them. The passage they travelled through had exited onto a large ledge, alongside the waterfall.

Using a spare stick, Razid lit it from the torch, and threw it down into the space, illuminating the ground. As it hit the ground, it rolled to a stop.

A creature shrieked, a screaming, clicking sound echoing through the chasm. The torch had rolled in front of its face, and in the dark, it was revealed.

At 4 metres long, and 2 metres tall and wide, it was the size of a small elephant. Yet it was roughly the shape of a beetle, its body coated in chitin formed armour, and it stood upon 8 legs, and it had 2 long, grasping claws on its middle, raised up like a seat at the front of the body, settled over the second pair of legs. From behind, 2 long antennae extensions, lined with barbed spurs, trailed behind.

Its head was a mess of evolution, no obvious eyes, only some heat sensory pits and a ridged mouth and armoured, domed forehead. It had no mandibles, nor teeth, only what looked like a beak on its front, as one found at the base of an octopus or squid would look like.

Shrieking, the creature dove into a nearby burrow hole, squeezing into the space, scuttling deeper into the tunnels.

Echoing in the caves, more shrieks sounded.

Backing up quickly, the five entered the main hall again, beside the organically grown wall formation, now linked to that creature.

"What was that!?" Demanded Kae'tano.

"Now we know why those signs warned of an extreme hazard. Those things probably ate some people here." Je'rol guessed.

Suddenly, a thud sounded in the dark, and a sound of scuttling legs echoed. In the flickering torch light, another creature, this one slightly bigger, and with sharper claw forearms, charged them.

With a yell, Alex leapt to the side, as did the others as the creature descended upon them. The beast caught Je'rol, who instinctively headbutted the creature as it grappled him, and bit and clawed at any parts it could reach as the creature was dazed.

The creature's shrieks as it began to lose its grappling match to Je'rol seemed to awaken the entire mountain, as more scuttling noises sounded in the caves. Je'rol cried in pain as the beak caught his left arm, biting and cutting it moderately.

Finally, with Kae'tano coming in and stabbing the creature with his torch, Je'rol threw it against the wall outcropping. As the creature was beaten, and hit the wall, it shattered slightly, and warm air escaped the outcropping.

From inside, a series of small pods of fluid ruptured, small lifeforms falling out, some unmoving, while others wriggled visibly. Hatchlings, laid by the same creatures and formed into a rocky outcropping style construct on the cave wall.

Je'rol leapt up, and kicked the dead creature for good measure: "A nest!? WE'RE GOING THROUGH A NEST!?"

"This was the only way to avid getting caught by the guards and get to the town!" Moko'tel insisted.

"Execution or getting eaten!? All your 'brilliant' escape plan did was exchange one life ending for us with another!" Je'rol yelled.

From further up the tunnel, the darkness seemed to shuffle, and from the end of a tunnel a horde of creatures charged, grappling claws open and beaks clicking excitedly.

"RUN!" Yelled Razid, as he ran in the opposite direction to the horde. The others followed, as more creatures swarmed the main tunnel, some climbing on the ceiling to chase them.

The trampling of hundreds of feet, and the clicking of beaks and claws, became louder and louder. The five rounded the corner, Je'rol pulling ahead at a faster pace. Razid ran behind, Moko'tel in tow, Kae'tano behind, and Alex at the rear, his damaged throat causing problems with his breathing. The cyborg could run, but even with his mechanical limbs his body still had limits.

Moko'tel stumbled on a rock, and yelled in panic as he fell, dropping the lit torch. The other 3 ran on, Moko'tel yelling in panic to go on ahead. As Alex ran past, Moko'tel saw the swarm descend upon him, beaks clicking excitedly.

Moko'tel yelled as the claws grabbed his torso.

Hearing the Predator's screams of panic and protest, the others ran on into the darkness.

Je'rol stopped as he rounded a tunnel corner, as the tunnel forked off. The tunnel leading upwards swarmed with the creatures, while the other tunnel was empty, but ran deeper into the mountain. Taking the course, Je'rol ran on, with Razid following him.

Kae'tano looked behind as Razid and Je'rol peeled off, seeing Alex struggling to keep up, his breathing now desperate rasps, but his speed still the same.

Kae'tano glanced forwards, and he screamed as the creatures dropped from the ceiling to surround him.

Ahead, Alex saw Kae'tano get surrounded by creatures, screaming as they descended upon him. Desperately, he leapt into a side tunnel, ducking low as the ceiling dropped. His breathing ragged, he came to a smaller fork in the tunnel, one tunnel leading into a dead end, the other lined with bone remnants of animals and one Kro'nogri miner, the walls coated with the sticky substance from the creatures. As noises echoed, the tunnel walls glistened, with the creature's substance and echoes of blood from devoured beings, and seemed to press in on him, the crushing fear manifested in the sight of the dark tunnels, and the echoes of death within their depths.

Alex screamed, freezing as a creature slowly emerged from the slimy tunnel, stepping over the bones, cracking a few as it stepped on them.

Its face was blank, devoid of anything similar to an eye. This one was slightly larger than the first they had seen, and like many that attacked them. It was 3 metres tall, and 6 metres long, with long, feeler antennae stroking the ground in front of it, permanently dragging on the ground. Two more feelers extended from its rear, and the whole creature, and all the others, resembled a short bodied centipede, crossed with a scorpion's claws and a head resembling a Praying Mantis's.

Unlike others, this type was riddled with protruding spikes, like daggers from its entire, armoured body. Its claws were slightly longer, extending from it's 'arms' more than the smaller types. It was more deadly than the smaller ones.

Frozen in fear, knowing there was no escape, Alex raised his fists, a useless gesture against this creature, even with his cybernetic hand's claws. The creature stroked the ground as it crawled from the tunnel, like a dog smelling the ground. The feelers stroked Alex's foot, and snaked up his legs, then his torso. In fear, Alex slowly formed his dark matter into a wrist blade on his right arm, but with his body paralysed with fear, he did not think he would find the strength to use it if needed to against this beast.

He had witnessed many creatures that call to question the beauty of nature and its living beings, but here he was at its mercy, and unlike the worm beasts he was attacked by on a world now distant, while searching for an operations base system over 2 years before, he could not easily escape. Here, nature was in command, and he was prey.

The feelers touched his face, and Alex shut his mouth as tight as it would go, absolutely still as the creature's feelers retracted from his body, returning to the ground. The creature looked down at him from its head, vaguely looking around him also.

As the creature moved backwards slightly, turning to investigate the ground, Alex had guessed that this creature was probably blind from living in a dark cave. Reaching down very slowly, Alex picked up a palm sized object from the ground. Looking down, he nearly dropped it when he saw it was a Kro'nogri's thigh bone fragment.

He flicked the bone down the tunnel, the fragment clacking against the wall and floor loudly.

The creature's head immediately shot to the bone, and it scuttled over to it, feelers stroking it, and it quickly left it alone. Without further time spent, the creature slowly scuttled out of the tunnel Alex was backed up into, leaving him alone.

Alex stood there, his body beginning to shake as he realized what had just happened, his thoughts taking more time to assemble.

_I thought I understood what true fear was when I first survived Kal'sik. That fear is nothing. This hellhole is what real horror is._

Carefully, Alex treaded out into the main tunnel, seeing the creature scurrying into a tunnel ahead, from where cries of protest and fear from the others echoed.

Alex saw Kae'tano's discarded torch, now extinguished, barely discernable in the bioluminescent fungi lit tunnels. Picking it up, Alex scratched his fingers together, until some sparks were produced. Carefully, he sparked onto the torch, walking towards the tunnel used by the creature moments before.

Finally the torch lit, and Alex saw the passage went down, and was entirely dug by the creatures. Fear rose with the bile in his throat, and literally swallowing his fear, Alex began to follow down.

_If I can save at least one, I will have their loyalty and their assistance once we escape._

Seeing the other two torches discarded on the tunnel floor, Alex picked them up, but did not light them. Common sense told him to keep only one at a time lit, and Sokka had told him about the nomads that accompanied them through caves also, and their lack of sense to only use one torch at a time.

The sounds of panicked yells and clicking continued to echo through the tunnel, while the cyborg human descended further into what was a colony.

**Disused mining tunnels, Ta'rikei hive.**

Deeper and deeper they were taken into the depths of the tunnels, having long now exited the tunnels dug by Kro'nogri hands.

Constantly wrestling against his captors had earned Je'rol, Moko'tel, Razid and Kae'tano quick bites, a mild paralytic entering their systems. The effect left Moko'tel, Razid and Kae'tano unable to move much, only wriggle at most. Only Je'rol could move, his race being more resilient to toxins, though what movements he could do were sluggish and weak.

In the tunnels, the walls and floors glistened with the substance, now established that it was a form of reinforcement for the tunnels, and a more sticky purchase on which to step on to traverse the often sloping tunnels.

Straining his head, Je'rol saw they had come to a large, open chamber, a loud sound of a waterfall echoing in the darkness further away. Here was where the underground river ran in a large outlet, pouring from an above tunnel in the mountain depths to a lower sections in this atrium, before flowing onwards through many, smaller tunnels into the rock, presumably going on until it rejoined a river or simply ran outside.

The hordes of clicking beaks and mandibles sounded in the cavern, the bioluminescent fungi glowing from rock walls and ponds, just barely lighting the dark, hive run atrium.

Down a flight of rocky ramps they were carried, a handful of Ta'rikei soldiers escorting the Ta'rikei workers as they carried the four paralysed prizes.

In the main atrium, more protrusions from the rocks, all resting near the gently running water, some of them freshly placed there.

On the sight of the largest Ta'rikei this colony had collectively, Je'rol would have screamed aloud, his mouth still stunned by the paralytic, one of the effects that actually affected him.

In front, 2 very large Ta'rikei, roughly 4 metres tall and 6 metres long, with many more vicious spikes on their bodies, clicked their beaks menacingly in his direction, echoing through the dark caverns. And behind them, easily the largest Ta'rikei, at 9 metres long and 5 metres tall, visibly bloated in the mid section, but still slightly mobile on its thicker legs, rumbled loudly as it watched the worker Ta'rikei scurry to and fro from its rear end.

Straining, Je'rol saw slimy pods being carried from the larger Ta'rikei's rear body, and being ferried into more wall protrusions like the ones they saw hugging the underground river walls. He guessed that this largest Ta'rikei was the 'Queen', and the 2 larger ones near it might be some sort of warriors, greater than the standard soldiers.

The Queen Ta'rikei looked their way quickly, her blank face unreadable as her mandibles and beak clicked in interest. Without another word, the 4 were carried away, spiralling up a slope until they reached a small wall section, where a tick layer of sticky resin coated the walls.

All 4 were dropped onto the walls, with Moko'tel, Kae'tano and Razid struggling only mildly as the paralytic wore off a bit. Je'rol visibly struggled, and with some clicks of strain, a pair of worker Ta'rikei rolled him over, like a barrel, in the resin.

Spluttering, Je'rol felt the resin stick to him, and stick him to the wall. His arms and legs pinned, he could only wriggle. Grunting, Je'rol continued to free himself from the glue-like resin as the worker Ta'rikei did the same to the other 3.

After a minute, the 4 were stuck, and the worker Ta'rikei scuttled down the slope, returning to the Queen. By now, the other 3 had regained consciousness, though their muscle control was still somewhat stiff.

"What is this?" Kae'tano asked in horror. Looking around, Razid saw a few skeleton fragments, and corpses in various states of decay or freshness, stuck on the resin coated wall. Razid said: "It looks like a storage place, for, for-"

"Food." Moko'tel finished, calm in the situation, but his voice was tense. Hearing a clicking noise, the 4 looked over, and saw another worker Ta'rikei come over, and pulled a half decayed corpse of a large, pony like creature with reptilian scales from the wall, along with a smaller, pig sized gliding lizard. The gliding lizard it consumed quickly, the decayed flesh crumbling and being easily consumed. The reptilian pony creature was carried down the slope, and eventually to the Queen.

"They have beaks like that, why do they eat decaying meat?" Asked Razid.

"Perhaps they let this long term storage soften the food up? Their digestive systems or the beaks themselves might be weak." Moko'tel suggested.

"Not the beaks, they're sharp enough, I felt it bite my arm. And they might just eat dead things like Moko'tel says." Je'rol stated, seeing the Queen begin to eat the pony sized corpse down below in the atrium. His arm still throbbed, though it had mostly stopped bleeding.

"So we're trapped here until we die!?" Exclaimed Kae'tano.

Strangely, a Ta'rikei soldier had been passing nearby, and had paid no attention to their talking, yet flicked its head towards them when Kae'tano shouted. Clicking angrily, it walked over and pushed a foreleg onto Kae'tano, adding more sticky resin to his body, nearly covering his mouth.

As the soldier walked off, Moko'tel hissed: "They sense vibrations and navigate by touch, they can't see, and I think the running water would drown out all but loud talking and shouting noises. Don't shout, or they will get angry."

Seeing their predicament, Razid lamented mentally: _I never thought I would end like this, being stored for food for a fat bug queen! And Alex! He abandoned us, or else he'd probably be here too!_

Je'rol apparently thought the same as Razid, and said: "That other human, he saw his chance and abandoned us! Why'd we trust him, even if he helped us escape? He'd have probably killed or abandoned us once we weren't useful, like he did with many of the prisoners. We killed to survive and make out time in the pit safer, but he killed for sport and revenge. And he left us here! Not even my time in the Sril'sask gladiator rings was this bad!"

As if on cue, Kae'tano looked around, and saw a very old skeleton, a Kro'nogri ribcage. Around it, he saw an amulet, worn by one prisoner who escaped before Alex was ever brought in. Shaking, Kae'tano said: "I think I know one more reason why the prisoners never escaped to the colony after climbing the pit. If they got past the diseases, guards, plants and animals, they were forced to come through the mines."

"And before these bugs, they would have simply been caught by security. I guess the mines still serve their purpose then." Razid commented hopelessly.

Below them, the river ran, rumbling in the dark cavern, as the Queen and her 2 elite warrior creatures presided over the main atrium of the nest, while workers and soldiers marched to and fro.

**30 minutes later**

Alex had been careful, his fear and caution slowing his progress. He had passed by only 3 other Ta'rikei as he descended the tunnels, ducking into the walls or corners and staying perfectly still to avoid their feelers.

After descending further, he emerged into a wider cavern, very dimly lit by the bioluminescent fungi in some puddles. His torch in hand, Alex had found that as the creatures were blind, they were unaffected by the light. It had been the impact of the torch on the ground previously that had seemed to startle a worker Ta'rikei, the first they saw of the creatures, before they were ambushed.

Looking down, Alex saw the Queen, presiding over her hive, her brood being taken from her rear as she went through a spurt of egg laying, the workers moving out in lines to place the eggs in the nest protrusions in the walls. He saw that the Queen was occupied, and likely all but immobile, but it was her 2 large, dominant 'bodyguards' that raised Alex's concerns, as their size was enormous, dwarfed by only the Queen. They watched the hive like sentries, as if gazing into the hive, despite being blind.

Not wanting to take any risks if the Ta'rikei had any sense of sight, Alex coated himself in what little Dark Matter he had, and cloaked his body. His feet treading almost silently, Alex walked up to a slope, coming to a rocky, non-resin coated wall. His genetically improved eyesight gave him good vision in the dark, and he gripped the wall, a 60 degree slope, and began to climb.

After a minute, Alex reached a perch, overlooking the entire hive from a larger angle. He saw the tunnels and the river in the cavern atrium, and the columns of worker and soldier Ta'rikei, overseen by the Queen and hr bodyguards. Then, he saw a line of walls, coated in slime and embedded with corpses.

He saw a Sril'sask, Human, Kro'nogri and Predator embedded, near to each other, and through the darkness, Alex made out very small shifts in their bodies, as they seemed to talk to one another. Elated at their survival, Alex had to stop himself from immediately heading down to save them.

Why had they taken them, yet ignored him? It was not being human, or else Razid would have been ignored also. Caution was needed, or else the four might just get recaptured or killed.

Slowly beginning to climb down, Alex looked around, and saw the large river in the atrium, though it was only a foot or so deep. It flowed into the darkness of the tunnels, though the echoes from the downstream tunnel were quieter, more of a gentle flow.

As he reached the ridge, still cloaked, he planned his next moves.

**2 minutes later.**

Still trapped on the resin coated wall, the other four could do little to escape.

Below, the worker Ta'rikei worked tirelessly, bringing food to the Queen and her bodyguards, and travelling in and out of tunnels.

Suddenly, from inside one of the tunnels, a screech was heard, a Ta'rikei in peril. More screeching, and a brief flare of light shimmered slightly from one of the tunnels.

Immediately, soldier Ta'rikei swarmed into the tunnel, the thundering of their footfall echoing in the caves.

¾ of the soldiers had disappeared into the tunnel, and after 30 seconds, there was still no sign of them returning, as they still investigated the dead Ta'rikei pair in the tunnel. Killed by a puncture, yet the blade or its wielder was unseen.

Sneaking up, Alex leant into Je'rol's ear, saying: "Stay quiet, and keep calm. I'll have you all free soon, and if you want to live, follow me when I appear."

In the midst of Je'rol's confusion, he felt something slicing the sticky resin from his body, and as the Sril'sask freed himself slowly, Moko'tel, Razid and Kae'tano did the same as they were freed.

The dark air shimmered, and before them a human shape metal hand appeared, motioning to follow. The five, with Alex invisible, briskly crept down a slope, leading to the underground river channel.

Reaching the river, the Queen, Bodyguards and workers still ignorant, Alex motioned for the others to proceed into the downstream tunnel. Complying in desperation, they trod carefully along a ledge, avoiding the water.

Behind them, Alex carefully snuck up behind one of the bodyguard Ta'rikei. Quickly reappearing visibly, Alex formed a dark matter blade, and pierced its abdomen, slicing down as he punctured, beginning a river of brownish blood and hanging innards.

As a monumental screech of pain echoed through the cave, the other four picked up the pace, making sure no one was lost.

Alex quickly vanished, but he trod on a skull fragment in his panic. The crunching noise snapped the non-wounded bodyguard into the direction of the human, and in rage, both it and the other bodyguard Ta'rikei charged towards the noise.

Running ahead, pressing an idea that formed from his mistake, Alex bolted to the edge of the cavern, his footsteps mingling with the bodyguard screeches and roars in the dark caves as they nearly snapped at his heels. He made sure to tread as noisily and heavily as possible, and each vibration attracted them to him.

Finally, reaching the end, Alex suddenly changed direction, leaping up above to a ledge to the side. On the ledge, Alex grabbed a collection of ribs, from a poor animal a few weeks ago, and threw a pair of them to the floor behind the bodyguards.

As the bodyguards snapped around, Alex snuck away briskly, throwing bones at intervals to distract from his quick, steady passage.

Finally, Alex reached the river cave once more, and took off, throwing the bone fragments towards the queen, the ribs clattering at the base of her rear end. The Bodyguard Ta'rikei swarmed to her, and as they sensed the impact, the human took off down the tunnel, hugging the walls and ledges to avoid splashing the water.

**Disused mining tunnels, underground river tunnels.**

Running along, the dark cave and river lit only by the two torches now carried by Alex and Moko'tel, the five followed the river's passage.

Suddenly, as they rounded a corner, a screech was heard, and a soldier Ta'rikei leapt down from the cavern roof, attempting to kill them.

Quickly, Alex stabbed it in the abdomen with his formed dark matter blade, while Je'rol leapt on it with his foot talons, clawing its head apart. The creature writhed and screeched horribly, until after a few seconds it fell still and silent.

The cave was quiet, except for the harsh breathing of the four, and the rasping breath of Alex.

Behind them, further upriver in the tunnels, screeches and thundering footfalls echoed in the dark river cavern.

Moko'tel said loudly: "They're coming! Follow the river and we'll get outside!"

Agreeing, Alex ordered: "Rip the mandibles off this creature, anything sharp enough to use as a weapon! This is no place for us anymore! Make for the outside! Now!"

Tearing sounds permeated the darkness in the next 20 seconds, as the soldier Ta'rikei was stripped of its mandibles, and some legs for clubs.

Taking off into the dark cavern, following the flow of the river illuminated by their torches, they fled from the thundering swarm pursuing them deeper into the depths of the mountain.

**Exams have held me up, but not any more. Updates will be more frequent for the next few chapters at least, as I have the story set out in a solid format.**

**Please review or read, enjoy, or offer constructive advice.**

**Thank you.**


	31. Chapter 31

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 31: Colony of Fear part 2, sanctuary lost.**

**11****th**** January 2902, early morning.**

**Fetal'ra system, Planet Ras'hana, Underground river cavern.**

Fear drove them along the river tunnels, no longer bothering to avoid the shallow water, their footfalls splashing and echoing in their flight.

The flickering blackness around the lighted caverns through which they fled, and the rumble of death pursuing them with predatory intent, was all that the five Ral'craz escapees knew.

Coming to a 10 foot ledge, over which the river cascaded down another level, they leapt down, the impact from the 1.5 G gravity jarring their legs more than what any of them were accustomed to. Moko'tel stumbled on landing, his legs weakened from the burns he sustained from the collapsed, burning tree branch falling on his legs and head. Alex, trailing behind, gripped the Predator on the shoulder and hoisted him up, prompting him to run again.

"They're in the tunnel ahead!" Yelled Je'rol, coming back from one route ahead. Looking around, Alex knew that only daylight would save them. He saw the river itself, flowing into a long tunnel, darkened and seemingly endless, the rumble of the faster water echoing through.

"The river's current can take us! It always flows outside! All of you, go first, I'll follow!" Alex croaked, just loud enough to be heard in the cavern. Not seeing any other alternative, Je'rol leapt in first, the water itself only 3 feet deep. The Sril'sask let himself float, and paddled to slow down himself as Kae'tano leapt in to join him, followed by Razid.

Alex leapt in, gripping Moko'tel's frame to ensure he stayed with them. Hitting the riverbed, Alex let himself float, lying face up on the river. As he looked back, he saw the creatures swarm the small cavern they had come from, one of the bodyguard Ta'rikei's pursuing them murderously.

The river flowed into a tunnel 3 metres wide and 4 metres deep, and sloped down for a significant current. Moko'tel and Kae'tano held the torches, doing their best to keep the flames above the water.

Among the loudly flowing water, screeches were heard, as 2 soldier Ta'rikei perched on the ceiling above the river, claws outstretched, beaks clicked hungrily.

Panicking, Razid slashed the ripped mandible he held out, taken from a dead soldier Ta'rikei. The perched soldier Ta'rikei recoiled in pain, as a cut was made in the side of its head.

As the other soldier Ta'rikei made to attack Razid, helpless in the current, Je'rol raised his club, a ripped off soldier Ta'rikei leg, upwards. The soldier Ta'rikei screeched as it lost its footing, falling into the river with them. Behind them, Kae'tano swam towards the creature, pulling it down underwater, its body scraping along the river bed as they flowed down the tunnels.

Meanwhile, the first soldier Ta'rikei stretched out its mandibles, eager to slash Moko'tel as he lay in the water, unable to swim, kept afloat by Alex. It screeched in what seemed like glee.

"No!"

Alex's salvaged mandible blade caught it in the open mouth, puncturing the gums between the open beak segments and mandibles, and its screeches became ones of pain, and then of panic as it fell into the river with them.

Splashing and thrashing, the creature's panicked motions knocked Moko'tel back in the water, the torch flying from his hand, and extinguishing as it fell into the river, lost forever. As it struggled, the Ta'rikei felt a cold blade puncture the top of its head, as Alex gave a croaking cry of anger, his dark matter blade piercing the creature's head.

The creature continued to thrash, heavily wounded though, as its brain was actually in its torso. Alex stabbed maniacally, still attacking the head, until the Ta'rikei only began twitching in the water from the cuts and blood loss.

Behind him, as Moko'tel watched the creature's death, he found himself grateful, but said nothing for now, as the tunnel continued to twist and turn in the dark, the torch gone now, and the tunnel only lit by the dim light of Kae'tano's torch ahead.

Alex pulled Moko'tel, more hacking coughs leaving his throat, swimming with the current to catch Kae'tano, Razid and Je'rol, the holders of the last torch, and the sought kills of the second Ta'rikei.

Ahead, Kae'tano held the creature underwater, as Je'rol and Razid stabbed and hacked at its head and thorax, the creature's struggles finally dying. At last, it shuddered as Razid's blade made one last stab into its torso, letting loose enough blood to effectively kill it.

Panting, the three saw Alex and Moko'tel approaching in what torchlight they had from Kae'tano, who had somehow kept it dry as he held the creature's head under.

The tunnel twisted, and at the tunnel's narrowing, they were hurled into rocks and boulders in the water, only strong enough to bruise, as they actually used the dead Ta'rikei soldiers as rafts of sort.

Finally, they emerged into a small underground lake, spat out over a small, wide waterfall, and at long last, as the current gently carried them further along the body of water, daylight.

The five saw the underground lake leave the mountain, through a mouth of sorts, until it met with a large body of water ahead, presumably a lake of some sort. They rode the Ta'rikei soldier bodies on the small river, finally exiting the mountain's underworld.

Not wanting to get drawn out into the lake, they paddled to the river banks, and quickly climbed out, soaked to the marrow and cold, hungry, tired, stained with Ta'rikei resin and still slightly suffering from the plant burns earlier in their escape. They were harmed, but they had escaped, and there was no sign of any trouble from the guards.

As quickly as they got out though, it was as Razid exited the water that something erupted from behind him. A beaked mouth with mandibles, clicking hungrily, screeching like metal grinding together.

Trying to dodge, the mandibles deeply scratched the Arabic man's arm, and knocked him into the water. In panic, the others backed off, as the lone Bodyguard Ta'rikei lunged at them.

Sensing easy prey, it began to turn back into the water for Razid, now beginning to flow with the current.

Alex reacted quickly, and leapt at the creature, taking a swipe at its head with his mandible blade as he grabbed its head.

The creature hissed, and whipped its head around, and took Alex's right arm into its mouth, its beak reaching up to near the shoulder. The mandibles flailed as it tried to pull Alex in with it, to swim back to the hive, but the human held on long enough to act, fighting back the pain of nearly having his arm wrenched out of its socket.

A dark matter blade suddenly stuck up through the roof of the Ta'rikei bodyguard's head, extended from the same arm it tried to eat. The 4 metre tall and 6 metre long beast gave a screeching bellow as a creature, large for its own race but a fraction of its weight, inflicted a near mortal wound on it.

With a great roar, Alex grabbed the jaw of the Ta'rikei bodyguard, wrenching his blade arm out, and hacked at its beak and mouth joints. With them weakened, he used his cybernetic limbs to their maximum, and pulled. With a wet ripping, the beak sides and bottom jaw were ripped off, blood seeming to explode from the creature's head.

The Ta'rikei began to fall into the river, its cries now spluttering, drowning in its agony and pooling blood. Alex leapt out, and croaked back, his breath ragged and scratchy from his acid injured windpipe: "Get Razid!"

Nodding, Moko'tel waded into the water, not having to actually swim to catch Razid. He grabbed the human, pulling the man in as he began to splutter water from his recovery. Razid was pulled out, and they all watched silently as the Ta'rikei slowly floated out to the lake, drifting along the current of the river to the open lake.

Behind them, the mountain ridge beckoned, stretching 3000 feet upwards. The river they had just left housed too many possible dangers from their escape.

No one lingered at the riverside, and just seconds after the Ta'rikei bodyguard's death, they were already marching up the mountain side.

**Late Evening**

**Fetal'ra system, Planet Ras'hana, Ette'rek mountains, mountain ridge.**

"We'll rest here for the night. The trees can provide cover." Said Alex.

Exhausted, Je'rol asked sceptically: "What about the plant life? It's already given me scars today."

Coughing from his scarred throat and vocal chords, Ales couldn't answer. Moko'tel said: "No, the trees here look normal, and we're on a slope, far from the water. That's where the carnivorous plants will be, near water, where the animals are."

Not seeing a fault in the answer, Je'rol sat down roughly, as Razid asked from his sitting position atop a rock: "What now? We're safe, they probably think we're dead, but we don't have a way off this damned planet."

"Look down the mountain side, the one we didn't come out of." Moko'tel said. All five looked, and saw a sight that caused great relief for them all.

On the mountain's west side, the colony of Ral'craz lay, its lights beginning to shine in the darkening sky, with one sun already disappearing over the horizon, the other slightly higher in the sky. 10 miles beyond, further down in the valley, the lights of the Ral'craz prison guard towers shone.

"This is where you come in Kae'tano. You can sneak into the city, disguised, and contact a series of frequencies that we know of. I say you, as you are the only Alliance race member here."

Alex nodded, and croaked out: "I'll tag along, cloaked, and will keep some dark matter on you to better disguise you."

Moko'tel elaborated to Kae'tano, seeing Alex beginning to suffer from talking through his injured windpipe again once again: "You'll need to hack a public communications terminal, which Alex can do, and you punch in the frequencies. To avoid getting caught, you should try multiple terminals, different for each frequency. Make the calls each day, and we wait here."

Nobody spoke, while Kae'tano looked down at the colony, commenting without much enthusiasm: "I suppose there is not much else we can do."

**14****th**** January 2902, late morning.**

**Fetal'ra system, Planet Ras'hana, Ral'craz colony**

The centre of the colony was busy as usual, and with the twin suns high in the sky, scattered clouds patterning the sky, life continued as usual.

A young Kro'nogri female passed a box of food spices over the counter, an elderly male Kro'nogri, who muttered a few words of thanks before leaving the shop. Seeing the small lines at the retail service computers, she knew that she would have more orders.

Her job was mundane, consisting of collecting items from the back rooms after the orders were input and paid for through the retail service computers. Today was a quieter day though, and she could afford a few brief instances to gaze out the shop's window, looking out at the colony plaza outside.

Pedestrians walked with their purchases, some assisted by semi intelligent robots, while one that walked by was a robot, likely a more intelligent servant unit. On the street, a few trucks wheeled by on their tracks, their hydrogen powered electric motors noiselessly driving their loads to their destination.

She briefly noticed one truck marked with the logo of the Ral'craz prison facility, and her thoughts wandered to the incident 3 days before. There had been a local news report of another escape attempt by a group of prisoners en masse, resulting in a fire in one small part of the rainforest between the colony and the city. The 5 more successful escapees had been blocked, and took the route through the mines.

Thankfully, a spy robot had been sent down, tracking the footprints, and confirmed that they had been taken by a Ta'rikei attack, and were presumed dead. No one ever had escaped those creatures.

Hearing another order request from the overhead speakers, she turned to head into the backroom.

Had she looked for a second longer, she would have noticed a Kro'nogri, face slightly covered in a sun protecting shawl, and arms with pale green and yellow scales, wander past briskly. Even if her eyes had lingered on him, they likely would have never spotted the faintest shimmer of light behind him, as a cloaked, cyborg enhanced human, with a scarred body and scarred throat and voice to now match, following close behind, alert for any potential threats to him or Kae'tano.

"Last one, then we head up for the day." Muttered Alex into Kae'tano's ear hole.

Acknowledging, Kae'tano stepped back as Alex got to work, carefully unlocking the computer circuitry box of the communications terminal.

Getting to work, Alex used a basic hacking code, siphoning through the basic security codes with bypass encryptions and disabling them, and installing a basic worm in the system that would go unnoticed. Now they could dial a frequency in for free, and the origin of the call would be scrambled within the local network, lost to random code dissolution.

Stepping back, Alex let Kae'tano input a message, pre-recorded onto the first terminal they hacked and copied, into the frequencies they needed. It covered their location and situation, but did not mention being Ral'craz escapees, as for some of the frequencies, they would assume that with the call.

One of the frequencies was Konurich station, as news had been heard by them that the Decepticons, led by Shockwave, had seized control of it as a stronghold, but not much else. Alex had high hopes for at least an acknowledgement from them.

Other frequencies were sent to Underworld Guild branches that Kae'tano once associated with at a higher level, promising reparation from the NKI for their rescue. The same went for some of Kae'tano's mercenary band, though hopes for a response from them were lowest.

**16****th**** January 2902, midday.**

**Fetal'ra system, Planet Ras'hana, Ral'craz colony**

"_**Acknowledged J230, departure flight course approved. Expected at Ral'craz depot bay 3 for resupply and refuel before departure. Have a good day."**_

"J230 instructions clear, done." The female Leg'hrul pilot ended communications there, programming the autopilot to make the course for the departure flight. The freighter shuttle streaked down into the atmosphere, mist trailing off it as it rapidly approached the colony.

Looking out the viewport, the pilot eyed the mountain's east face, thinking to herself as to what her employers could want her to land there for.

But she was just the pilot, and a well paid one too. The Underworld Guild had offered her a handsome sum for her service, asked with picking up a 'deposited' cargo on the east mountain face, under the guise of 'scenic tourists', wanting to head straight out to their next system.

The colony came up, and the pilot swung the shuttle into an approach path, the craft coming to a hover and landing on the platform, fuel and cleaning drones rushing to the craft once its engines shut down.

Behind her, the 4 passengers disembarked, a Kro'nogri female, older, stern and scarred slightly, flanked by 3 younger males, 2 Kro'nogri and 1 Leg'hrul. She was known as I'rilk, a high ranking crime lord in the Underworld Guild.

But the pilot was not paid to know that, so she kept quiet.

Outside, arrangements were made, as the bodyguards went into the colony to fetch basic supplies.

I'rilk came into the cockpit, and merely said: "2 hours, then we fly to the east side of the peak on these directions." She handed the pilot a datapad, with a set of coordinates pointing to an eastern mountain face near the colony.

Looking, the pilot was nervous, and the female Leg'hrul looked away from I'rilk quickly, afraid of the Kro'nogri woman. The crime lord disappeared into the back of the shuttle, and the pilot continued to work, shaking off the nervousness of the situation.

**Fetal'ra system, Planet Ras'hana, Ette'rek mountains, east ridge.**

Sitting on a rock, Alex carefully ate the grass Moko'tel had found, safely edible, though not useful in Je'rol and Kae'tano's case. The Sril'sask had killed a small mammal, the size of a small pig, and had skinned its furry hide and was eating it raw. Kae'tano had been adverse to the meal, but had peeled of both legs for himself.

Razid flexed his shoulder, stiff from the dressing on his arm wounds where the bodyguard Ta'rikei had scraped its jaws by the river, knocking him in. Looking over to the other human, he offered some consolation:

"That acid will have altered you're voice. If you relieve the pain, it may work to disguise you."

Leering at the Arabic man, Alex made to retort, but he didn't, not wanting to aggravate his throat further. Sitting back, the cyborg human realized that Razid made a valid point, though how a changed voice would help was beyond him.

Moko'tel came out of the clearing, sitting down near to Alex, splintering a stick into a sharp point as a weapon.

"I want to thank you again for helping me in the tunnel, for helping all of us in that place. You could have escaped on your own, but you came for us. Why?" Moko'tel asked, curious

Coughing, Alex said briefly: "You I needed for your intellect, Je'rol is what I could have been if I never escaped the gladiators, Kae'tano was needed to escape safely, and Razid was the first friendly face in that prison."

Frowning, Moko'tel asked: "Is that all?"

"No, you all were victims of Varya, and that prison was impossible to escape from alone."

Realizing the point, Razid said: "I see, we would never have escaped without you, yet you would have failed without us."

Alex nodded, coughing again. Moko'tel looked over at Kae'tano, noting: "We aren't going anywhere until his messages are received."

**2 hours later, evening, sunset.**

"Wake up." Je'rol whispered loudly, himself and Razid awake for the watch.

Alex groggily sat up, a source of light in the corner of his vision. In realization, he turned, and shot to his feet, Ta'rikei mandible in hand. Beside him Kae'tano was on guard, mandible in hand also, as was Moko'tel.

In front, a middle aged Kro'nogri female marched out, flanked by 2 male Kro'nogri and one male Leg'hrul. Without flinching at the sight of all five dishevelled, starving members in prison rags, she asked:

"A group of repeated messages called about 5 Ral'craz escapees wanting a ride, one of them a leading NKI officer, to be delivered to NKI high command for a sizable fee. Is that you?"

Kae'tano came forwards, saying cautiously: "That's us. We snuck into the colony, sent those messages and hid here. We have Alex Hunter with us, over there."

I'rilk looked over at the cyborg human, noting the scarred condition of his body, more so than usual, and his rasping, gravely voice: "Who are you?"

"I'rilk, a leading Underworld Guild lord, and my branch is a good funder of the NKI. I met Kirth when he was starting it, and his scheme had brought me more open places for business, so I help him. End of story."

Looking around, she gestured to the shuttle behind them, lights dimmed as it was hidden in an area of denser foliage a few dozen metres below on the east slope.

"Your flight out of here, get aboard now. And any trouble in flight, and I'll vent you out the airlock."

Soon enough, the five were aboard the shuttle, rocketing out of the atmosphere, not wasting any time in jumping to FTL.

In the passenger room, Alex asked in a croaking voice, his pain dulled by a non drowsy anaesthetic to his throat: "Where are you taking us?"

"Konurich station. The NKI took it, with a Decepticon army. Their leader Shockwave offered us a few crates of cybertronian weapons and technology for your safe delivery to him." I'rilk said, not paying the escapees any heed, consulting her messages on her wrist holo-computer.

Alex was relieved now, he was finally out, after 3 months since he awoke in Ral'craz prison. Then, thoughts of the events before he awoke came back, the bridge of the Dawnbreaker.

"What happened to Sha'krii Herensk?"

"She was captured, they showed it on the news, but they won't say where she was taken. The likelihood is a high security prison. It's really disheartened the NKI, the Decepticons are really the only branch in full swing, and they seem to be in it for their own agenda of glory as well as the NKI."

Satisfied, Alex turned back, and saw the other 4 on the seats near him. Je'rol said:

"I say we just make it up as we go for a brief period of time, or at least once we get to the station."

"Agreed, we'll asses the facts, then make out moves then." Alex said.

Outside, the shuttle flew through FTL, bound for the Alliance's capital station, their next stop for safety.

**17****th**** January 2902, Solaris system, New Earth orbit.**

The remnants of a communications satellite glinted in the sunlight, as the Alliance flotilla orbited above the planet, geosynchronous above the coast of a vast continent, drawn as being to the east by the planet's native humans.

But the target of the flotilla was a few thousand miles further east, an array of small volcanic islands in the largest ocean on the planet.

Resistance from the rogue KI autonomous defence satellites had been small, and scanners detected a pair of destroyers and a cruiser inbound, the cruiser named the Subjugator.

On the bridge of the Alliance battleship, the Leg'hrul female sneered down at the distant island chain, knowing that today a branch of the NKI would be crippled, probably for good.

_**4 weeks earlier, Tarihhis, military council boardroom.**_

_The meeting had been brief and to the point._

_The Dreadnought attacks were still effective, but now the UIP fleets had mobilized heavily, making the progress of these attacks slow. The Dreadnoughts themselves were still suffering little loss, only one having been heavily damaged since New Cybertron, still leaving 5 in operation, with plans already underway to repair the damaged vessel. No plans were in place to manufacture more dreadnoughts, but maintaining such an effective weapon was a high priority._

_Such a matter, and the spin off consequences, was the subject of debate of this meeting._

_While effective and all powerful, the Dreadnoughts raids often came at significant cost to the escort flotilla needed with each one, with many ships lost or written off in each battle increasingly. With the slowing in progress, the option was put forward to hold back the Dreadnoughts for home defence, defending industrial sectors until conventional forces had been repaired, rearmed and increased._

_At a minor majority, the decision was made to postpone Dreadnought attacks on UIP centres until their forces were repaired and rejuvenated, and only suppression raids on UIP frontier systems would be the main forays. Outposts, patrols and minor colonies, not much more._

_Though the issue of the NKI came to an interesting conclusion._

_Admiral Kal'sik, present by hologram, conferred with the leading military commanders, namely Kro'nogri Councilman Veleran, a holographic Leg'hrul Councilwoman Dae'karya, and a handful of other admirals and generals, all the Leg'hrul present by hologram. This was not a meeting that required the presence of the monarchs, as none of the plans called for large scale action on the scale of an invasion or a Dreadnought raid._

_Kal'sik had risen in the ranks by his success, not just with the Dreadnoughts, but in tactics concerning suppressing the NKI for long term following their extreme moral blow of New Cybertron, where their political head Sha'krii, a high officer Alex Hunter, and their flagship the Dawnbreaker, were lost._

_It was a former protégé of Kal'sik's that argued the case for this new plan. A battle hardened female Leg'hrul, and a decorated Alliance fleet Admiral. She was known for her strategic brilliance, planning every attack carefully, though she was a specialist in smaller scale operations, namely hit and run attacks, whittling down defences before going in with her own forces, or letting reinforcements take over._

_Unlike Kal'sik, she had not suffered setbacks, likely a result of her not being as frontally active, therefore less risk of failure. Because of this, she was now only one rank below Kal'sik, having quickly risen in the ranks for her age of only 33._

_Indeed, Ke'ranes was not one to take unnecessary risks, nor present a plan that would have any significant degree of not fully succeeding._

"_What of the NKI Dreadnought? Surely they might be using this system as a fuel or service base with the supposed resources available on that world?"_ _Councilman Veleran asked. Kal'sik intervened at this point, as he specialized in all things to do with Dreadnoughts:_

"_It is likely that they once did, however the system is known to us, the NKI wouldn't risk it. Besides, they are using Konurich station as its service port right now, though it is still heavily armed, a reason why we will not make any plans for a full assault until at least a few months from now."_

"_**Of course Kal'sik, we aren't foolish enough to launch an attack on that station, not with an active Dreadnought, and a stronghold with a fortified, more advanced race, even if they are less in number." **__Commented Councilwoman Dae'karya._

"_**That is why I will lead a small flotilla of ships, a standard attack fleet, against the planet. Sources show that is where the KI remnant fleet is based, though it may still be depleted from it outsourcing a large amount of forces to the NKI groups across our territory and the UIP." **__Said Admiral Ke'ranes._

"_But a Battleship? And only 4 destroyers? With our need to strengthen our border systems, surely they could be better used?" Asked Kal'sik. Beside him, numerous Kro'nogri officers debated, the opinion split._

"_**If they can support a Battleship, cruisers and destroyers themselves with that base, then I insist that a Battleship of my own is needed. Though this is not an invasion, this is an attack. I don't intend on using ground forces. As long as the rough area of the target base if found, I will be able to destroy it from orbit. Besides, their fleet will be semi devoted to defending the Dreadnought the NKI now has."**_

_A while passed, until Councilman and Councilwman agreed. Councilman Veleran spoke: "Very well Admiral Ke'ranes, you may have the ships and forces you need. If this works, an old branch of the NKI shall be cut off permanently."_

"_**It will work sir, for which I have you to thank Kal'sik. You removed Alex Hunter from the equation, which removed their head in that branch. It seems that your loyalty and devotion to the Alliance, and its outcomes, are helpful in more ways than thought at the time of their happening."**_

_Kal'sik allowed himself a small grin of pride. As his former protégé, Ke'ranes had been loyal to him, albeit questioning him at times, never truly as loyal to a cause or leader as he was. In hindsight, this was impossible, for Kal'sik was legendary for his dogmatic loyalty to the Alliance monarchs, though naturally the Kro'nogri more so._

_He was concerned though, as Ke'ranes had always been more forward in her approach to tactics, believing the best form of attack was attack. While it worked in her case, she didn't stop to steel herself like Kal'sik often did, and she butted heads with him now over strategic matters, to the annoyance of each other._

_In this instance, Kal'sik wasn't in the mood to clean up more of the human's mess. He was glad to be able to step back and let someone else do the dirty work for a change, while he concentrated on home system defence._

**Present, 17****th**** January 2902, Solaris system, New Earth orbit.**

Checking the maps, Ke'ranes saw the traced lines of comms signals from the destroyed satellite network. While the systems had built in scramblers to activate on destruction or hacking, they had managed to trace the transmissions to a chain of many islands.

The plan was now to simply bombard each and every island into craters. Simple, efficient, and effective.

Ahead, the 2 forward Alliance destroyers fired a volley of missiles and laser fire towards the incoming rogue KI cruiser and 2 destroyers thousands of miles away.

The long hidden Solaris base would be revealed, and destroyed, today.

**Another chapter done, the story will be picking up the pace from here on in.**

**Please read and/or review with honesty.**


	32. Chapter 32

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 32: Solaris sunk, terror tactics.**

**17****th**** January 2902, Solaris system, New Earth, Island Base.**

"All units prepare for evacuation! Maintain communication silence and divert all power to the island cloaking field!"

Norstith's barking orders echoed through the vehicle hangers, while the synthetic army rushed to and fro, preparing supplies, fuel, spare parts and gathering weapons. There was no chance of survival if the fleet bombarded the correct island, and the defensive fleet was holding them off for so long.

Up above, Azula and Xale had leapt down, flustered from the rush, and the former was angry:

"They found us! How!?"

"They hacked one of our satellites quickly enough to salvage flight path information before it scrambled its own data. They have begun systematically bombarding the island chain in hope of destroying the base." Said Raxler, appearing quickly before them.

"**GUYS! They got the Hemiason island, its gone! They've only got 12 more to go!"** Yelled Lexa, her voice shrill over the comms channels.

Raxler gave more info, while a pair of heavy troopers stomped past with a large crate of hydrogen canisters: "The defensive fleet is attacking the forward destroyers, but the

Battleship is being shielded by the destroyers, and only 36 per cent of our weapons fire is hitting, most of it direct energy weapons."

"We have to evacuate, all priority personnel, synthetic units and equipment are to be taken, leave as much as we can afford! We have perhaps an hour at most!" Norstith commanded, taking control of the situation.

Walking off, Norstith heard Lexa yell over the comms: **"Not all the transports are cloaked! They'll be picked off by the fighters and ships up there!"**

"I know, I'm heading to storage rooms, I'll assist in gathering what we need." Said Norstith, leaping off a gantry way, gliding down to the lower level.

**New Earth orbit.**

"Turn us to attack position. Focus main cannon fire on the cruiser Subjugator's underside turbo laser banks."

At Ke'ranes's order, the battleship began to fire its small fusion thrusters, angling to face the target cruiser nose on. In front, panels folded back, exposing the long passage of the weapon launcher.

400 miles ahead, the cruiser Subjugator was caught in a pincer hold, with a Destroyer having flown in behind it, taking much damage to its armour, but now pounded away at the cruiser's engine ports as it made a progressive move towards it, laser fire beginning to overwhelm the cruiser's energy shields. In front and above 30 miles away, a Destroyer was angled nose on, its forward weapons firing laser beams and tungsten railgun rounds at the Subjugator. The Subjugator angled itself, one entire broadside of weapons firing on a destroyer each, most if not all of its firepower aimed to break off the Destroyer pair.

The Battleship's main gun spat out a single, weapons grade uranium round, a 1 metre long, 0.4 metre side cylindrical shell, with a small uranium warhead, and a timer trigger. The round flew the length of space to the Subjugator, 300 miles, at 216,000 miles an hour.

5 seconds later, it was caught by the power of what remained of the Subjugator's kinetic shields, the magnetic fields drawing enormous power to deflect the round. In that instant, the timer went off, and the warhead was triggered.

In space, the fission warhead lit up the dark space of orbit, the Subjugator's shields collapsed under the heat energy from the blast at just a few dozen metres from the ship's hull, and the concussive shockwave ripped through the cruiser.

The Subjugator was incinerated on the underside, the blast sending the cruiser into a slow spin away from the blast. The 16 kiloton blast was silent, but it seemed to skin the cruiser like a caught fish, the armour having melted away, the underside and starboard hull now red hot, crumbling and deformed.

Hundreds of miles away, the former KI destroyers began firing as many salvos as possible, laser and particle fire filling the space between them and the attacking fleet.

Beneath, the Battleship's seemingly casual volleys of turbolaser and railgun fire blasted another small island into a crater, seawater rushing in where holes were blasted in the earth.

**New Earth, Island base, launch hangers.**

Loading up, Raxler ordered Aru'san to evacuate upon the order. Lexa ran up alongside, at which Raxler turned to her, and told her in a stern, sure voice, making Lexa stand straight before the synthetic:

"Organics must evacuate if they are to survive, as must Aru'san with 'her' unique, more integrated hardware. To spread rumours that I am among the casualties, this unit shall remain behind to coordinate attention to the base, in order to give the escaping craft a greater chance of escape."

"What? No! You'll be destroyed if you stay here Raxler." Lexa yelled. Without flinching, the AI unit pulled the panels on the back of his head, Alex's head, and exposed the CPU.

"This unit will function autonomously on the final orders given. However, if my data banks and primary functioning characteristics are to be saved, you must safely carry my CPU to any one of the designated interface units I have outlined, the list of which Aru'san has been informed. For this purpose, you will travel with Aru'san, as she has the highest probability of escaping unharmed."

Turning around, Raxler stated: "Press the buttons marked in blue and red around the CPU holding locks to virtually disconnect the core and power it down, and then press the white button at the top of the main CPU unit to remove it physically. I shall come online when the new unit uplink is established."

Nodding, Lexa carefully stepped forwards, ignoring the blaring alarms overhead as the home island edged more towards oblivion: "This won't hurt you will it?"

"I will not feel a thing. I am placing my status of being online in future in your hands Lexa. You are trustworthy."

"Okay. See you later Raxler, I'll have you back soon." Lexa pressed the blue and red buttons, and the robot's eyes flickered slightly. At the white button's push, the spherical CPU core came into her hands, the object's bluish light slowly fading as it powered down.

In front, the physical Raxler unit quickly ran off, joining a group of Commando units on a route to depart on a distraction mission.

Elsewhere on base, Norstith moved his hands over the control tower's boards, as he saw another island, 20 miles away, disappear in a large cloud of smoke and craters.

Scanners showed the Subjugator was now lost, and the Destroyers were being driven back, a game of cat and mouse with the KI destroyers firing as they ran from the Alliance destroyers and Battleship.

One destroyer had been damaged, and was trailing behind, and projected flight paths put it into a predicted pincer hold move, as had destroyed the Subjugator.

Down below, Norstith saw the hangers opening, and transports and fighters, all fast and small, or if larger like the heavy landing craft all having cloaking devices. Azula and Xale had boarded one of the cloaked landing craft, and were ready to take off immediately. Aru'san walked out then, and Norstith saw on rosters that Lexa was in there, as was Raxler.

Norstith looked back, as he saw Raxler and a group of commandos boarding a heavy bomber, one that was uncloaked. Almost laughing, Norstith then fell silent, knowing what it might take to get all the prepared transports out, and how much time they would have in this window of opportunity.

One last command was entered, before Norstith belted from the control tower, ready to hit his transport.

**New Earth orbit.**

"Admiral Ke'ranes, we have a signal on the planet, just appeared out of nowhere. Small, moving fast, and coming up. Bomber class, and its hailing us on comms with a message."

Bringing up the message, it read: **Solaris Base Commander AI Unit Raxler, aboard bomber ZX-09, requesting communications with Alliance fleet commander for negotiation of surrender.**

Ke'ranes almost laughed at the prospect of actually letting these people live, especially if it was their Synthetic officer that was the only one to come forwards. She figured she might as well listen in, as was code in the Alliance combat regulations. She ordered a text communications uplink with the bomber, while her officers searched to accurately locate the cloaked island base.

She failed to note the already departing group of transports, all cloaked, along with a draconian AI craft, the real Raxler aboard it.

Immediately, negotiations were not an option in Ke'ranes's mind, as the synthetic made the request to allow some to have safe passage out of system, in exchange for the base's destruction. She planned to do this anyway, and she turned to give the next command.

The bomber had flown up towards them, and was now only 200 miles from them. In the viewscreens and scanners, it was engulfed in a massive blast, a large hidden antimatter canister, containing every last reserve of spared antimatter available on the base. In a 40 megaton eruption, from 2 kilograms of antimatter annihilating all at once, the bomber disappeared, and the EMP burst from the blast blocked the path of sensors to the planet from the Battleship.

In the cloud of EMP jamming, the fast, sleeker uncloaked craft went full throttle from the base, scorching and damaging the ground and nearby structures as the fighters and shuttles took to the sky and space with almost animalistic savagery.

Ahead, the cloaked craft had already flown away, and with a quick jump to FTL they were near the planet's moon, flying around at breakneck pace, a lone draconian AI unit, a handful of heavy landing craft, and a dozen cloaked landing craft and shuttles. The moon's presence gave them the veil they needed to make a longer jump to FTL, heading for a nearby system in the cluster, 5 light years away, a safe haven in an emergency like this one.

The faint signals of the microjump to the moon alerted the Alliance to the ploy, and the turnaround of the straggling KI destroyer signalled the next phase of their escape. The further away KI destroyer swung around, full broadside, and fired its full volley of turbolaser fire and missiles at the Alliance destroyers and Battleship.

One Alliance destroyer was nearly crippled, and had fallen back to preserve itself, escape pods launching just for safety. Another was now hanging lifeless in space, its engines dead and reactor on critical power, though it still was in good shape. The remaining two Alliance destroyers returned fire, while the Battleship lined up another fission warhead shot.

The closer KI destroyer fired its boosters, now approaching the incoming Alliance destroyers and battleship at a belly first angle. From the top side, the hangers were open, and every last fighter and handful of bombers swarmed out, heavily laden with weaponry. Flying around the hull of the destroyer, all the craft fired full thrusters, letting loose volleys of missiles at the incoming larger vessels, and spat lasers and particle blasts at the incoming Alliance interceptors.

Alliance and former KI craft blossomed into debris as the exchange ripped them apart one craft at a time, and in the concentrated fire of the Alliance Battleship and 2 still strong Destroyers, the closer KI remnant Destroyer was torn asunder, the particle, railgun and laser fire shredding the massive ship like a series of knives.

Such destruction took time though, and Ke'ranes knew fully well by now what the KI remnant were up to. Her orders went on principles established against cloaked craft:

"Divert power from the shields to the EMP weapons, low power settings! I want pulses sent out to reflect the magnetic signature of the escaping craft! I know now that they have no intention or chance of harming us!"

Norstith watched the KI remnant destroyer get shredded by the Alliance fire, shaking his head sadly. Here was a sanctuary he had, now it was gone. In the very least, he was on route to regroup with the KI remnant in a nearby system, once his craft reached the far side of the moon.

Relaxing back in the seat, Norstith knew there was nothing more that could be done. He best make plans to present when they regrouped, and with the Decepticons to call upon at Konurich station, and a Dreadnought, they wouldn't exactly be underequipped.

Outside, the KI destroyer split in pieces, debris leaking from its ruined hull like blood. The faint hum of the heavy landing craft's drive core charging for an FTL jump was a reassurance to Norstith.

_Here's hoping that Shockwave can assist us when we get there._

Norstith then looked out the window, one last glimpse to New Earth, and lamented at this sanctuary's loss.

"EMPs have come back, some signals located, only 9 though, 5 fighter sized craft, and 4 larger craft." Said a bridge officer.

Ke'ranes had lost her patience, and ordered: "Fire precision shot burst from our laser turrets, I want those ships ripped apart."

Within 10 seconds, the lasers erupted from the Battleship's bow, arcing through space, and slicing through once invisible craft like a knife in butter. They had been moving slower for an FTL jump, a common mistake.

"We got about half of them. 3 fighters destroyed, and 2 of the large craft as well. We've lost the rest though ma'am."

Lightly scowling, Ke'ranes then remembered a crucial fact. They had the island's location pinpointed now.

"Target the island, level it. We'll have destroyed their base of operations, and they lost most of their forces here. We'll have accomplished out goals."

Turning to her second in command, she ordered: "Dispatch rescue ships to the 2 damaged Destroyers, rescue as many possible people from the life pods and the ships themselves. I'll be in the war room, I need to relay a progress report back to my superior officers."

With that, she left the bridge, not concerned in any way as the Battleship and 2 still functioning destroyers rained laser and railgun fire down towards the island a thousand miles below.

A few hours would pass on the planet, and to the more primitive human inhabitants, the only evidence of the island base's destruction would be a slightly larger wave swell along the coasts. They knew nothing of the sheer destructive force unleashed upon one place on the planet, neither of the great faction now forced to flee.

**20 light years from Solaris system, Liberator Battleship.**

In its place among interstellar space within the cluster, the remnants of the Rogue KI forces, now reduced to a fraction of their might, gathered to lick their wounds, the last stragglers coming in from the fight of flight.

"Last landing craft coming in now, fighters also. They lost a large portion of their ships though." Lexa noted. She stood by the bridge console, having followed instructions to integrate Raxler's core into the Liberator's systems through an interface function.

Sighing in frustration, Azula said: "Raxler, give us a list of the losses from the last of the straggling craft."

Xale came in, hearing the conversation, and said: "We're heading for Konurich station, it's the safest place we can operate in Alliance space now." He paused, and said wistfully: "Never thought I'd say that ever."

"**Course for Konurich station plotted. List of lost forces from incoming squadron: 2 Heavy landing craft destroyed, 3 fighters destroyed. 123 synthetic platforms destroyed in total."**

Suddenly, Aru'san's voice came over the speakers to the 3 humans on the bridge:

"**There were only 122 total AI program collectives destroyed in the losses sustained."**

Confused, Xale asked aloud: "What, was one platform empty?"

Raxler seemed to hesitate, as he/it tried to best say the fact:

"**Xale. The 123****rd**** platform was not inhabited entirely by a synthetically created intelligence, as it was Norstith that was the user of that platform."**

A pregnant pause filled the air, nobody spoke on the bridge. Sure enough, the reports came in of the final retreat, and of the lost craft.

The recordings showed Norstith's communications channel suddenly go dark, as the Heavy Lander transporting him was ripped apart by laser fire from the Alliance Battleship, its cloaking disrupted by high frequency, low power EMP pulses.

Lexa and Xale knew not what to think, as they found themselves repeating the same fact in her head, as memories of Norstith's involvement in her very short life played in her mind.

_Norstith is dead. My creator is dead. My father is dead. Norstith is dead._

It was a few minutes of stifling silence until the clones began to display any reaction beyond stunned silence.

Without warning, Lexa bellowed in utter rage, slamming her fists into the control panel beside her, denting them with her genetically enhanced strength slightly. Her body shook with rage and repressed anguish. Norstith had been the only parental figure in her life, in spite of his use of her initially as a tool to simply protect his remaining family.

And he was now gone, vaporized by laser fire as he tried to escape with them. He had never lived to the end of the war, and to return to an organic body as he always wanted to, to live as a true organic being again, no longer semi plagued by a partially synthetic mind.

Her hatred and rage was breaking, and Lexa stormed out of the bridge to her allocated quarters aboard the Battleship before she did something worse, a few tears of rage and sadness escaping her eyes as she went out of sight down the Battleship's halls.

She would later be thankful for the locks and sound proof walls in her quarters.

Xale slumped to the floor, silent, shaking very slightly, mouth rigid. His yellow eyes seemed to dim, unlike Lexa's, which had brightened and shimmered with rage and sadness.

Emptiness settled in Xale's gaze. His creator and father figure, faulted as he was, similar to Xale himself, was gone.

Seeing no other way, Azula looked at Xale with an expressionless gaze, and simply hoisted him up by the shoulders, even with his larger frame than hers. With a firm, gentle guidance she led him away from the bridge, down the hallway to the quarters.

As they entered their allocated, shared quarters, the door slid shut behind them.

Leading him to the bunk, Azula set Xale on the bunk, where he all but slumped onto it, facing the wall, huddling close to himself gradually.

She was used to knowing exactly what to say, but she did not know what there was that she could say for now to soothe, or dull his pain.

She knew that all she could provide now was simply a sympathetic presence. Xale had comforted her during her times of insecurity, following her Asylum freedom and her exploits and memories with or without her family. Now it was her turn to repay that service.

Without a word, the former fire princess climbed into the bunk, the single person bunk accommodating them both as she pressed close into Xale's back, draping an arm over his body, pulling herself close to the shaking human male clone.

No words would pass for many hours.

Back on the bridge, Raxler processed with the collective AI network of the remaining former KI forces, and Aru'san on a separate channel. A consensus was needed on whether any change of action was needed by Norstith's death.

From the practical view, Norstith's death did little to stop the synthetics from functioning. However, with Norstith gone, the organic leadership figure was gone, and with Xale and Lexa unstable as of now and not high ranking enough, and Azula being inexperienced and historically tyrannical as well as not high ranking enough, Raxler assumed command of the former KI forces by default.

"**What is the best course of action once we reach Konurich station?"**

Aru'san's query raised a valid point. Raxler knew that it was best to head to Konurich, as despite it being known, it was the most secure place, with a Decepticon army friendly to NKI and an NKI Dreadnought stationed there.

But for once, the AI had not considered a true long term plan.

"Head to Konurich station, regroup with Decepticon leader Shockwave, and formulate a next course of action then."

Raxler's statement was final, and all they could operate on now that the Solaris base was gone.

The AI gave a moment of processing to the mental stability of the human clones, knowing that Norstith's death would not only be detrimental to them, but to others once they heard of it.

**24****th**** January 2902**

**Konurich station, docking bay 34B.**

A few days after their arrival, and the Ral'craz escapees had quickly been briefed on the situation of the war fronts by Shockwave.

While the Decepticons had fortified Konurich station, aided by the NKI's captured Dreadnought and a fleet of Cybertronian, they were locked in a stalemate for now. Even with the reinforcements of the defence fleet and station garrison by hired mercenaries and pirates, courtesy of the Underworld Guild in exchange for information and some tech, there was little progress being made elsewhere in the Alliance war front. The comforting fact was that their losses were little, and the Alliance had no plans, definite or speculative, of reclaiming the station as of now.

Even with a miraculous sanctuary amidst the Alliance home space, losses were steep elsewhere, even in wake of the Dreadnoughts all but pulling back to strengthen Alliance defences until they built up more forces, likely preparing for another 'wave' of military assaults across all fronts.

The entire war was now locked in a stalemate, with the Alliance still claiming what was once UIP space, but not being able to go any further. Losses were mounting on each side, with no progress, and public tensions and resource shortages to civilians on both sides was becoming a great problem in many systems on both sides.

Alex was informed of the status of his allies in the NKI, relieved to hear that Kirth, La'kias and Ja'hail were operating under the radar, and were rallying more support for the NKI gradually.

It was at the news of the Solaris base crew that Alex had mixed feelings. He was shocked at their losses, the entire island, everything of the base destroyed, though thankfully the rest of the planet and its inhabitants were unaware. His entire sanctuary was lost, yet in all truthfulness he knew it would be discovered before the war was over, just not this soon.

He had seen the casualty list. Raxler needed a new body, an annoyance.

But Norstith was dead, his body destroyed, and his mind, never to reclaim and organic body as he wished to at some stage.

No words described the numbness Alex felt, and in silence he absorbed this loss. A father figure and a teacher, who had saved him form execution, but for his own ends to save his family. While it hurt at the time when he found out, Alex grew to understand Norstith's cause when he met his family.

Alex's chest tightened as he envisioned how Se'rie and her family would take it, hearing that her uncle had died in an attack. He couldn't imagine the pain they would feel, after the mounting losses their family had suffered. He also couldn't envision Se'rie's face upon hearing of his capture.

Alex couldn't imagine such pain, and the helpless feeling it would bring, so he coped as he saw best for now. He planned his next move. And he would start with an accomplishment of Raxler and Lexa over 3 weeks ago.

The extraction of more defining evidence confirming Zoran's identity was a key asset, one which by Shockwave's surprising generosity had been made available to Alex.

With the news of a dispatched black ops team to the Kro'nogri homeworld of Tarihhis to plant a bomb threat, and a way of sealing an at least temporary truce, Alex saw the makings of a plan. Zoran's plan of a forced ceasefire was a perfect opportunity for Alex to form a plant to take Zoran down.

With Zoran exposed, he could get Sha'krii onto the throne, and end the war politically. And Alex decided then and there, that the plan was desperate. But as he refined the details in his mind more and more with information available to him, Alex knew for a fact that if he succeeded in securing control of the bomb device, he could wield the power to end this war.

By any means necessary.


	33. Chapter 33

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 33: Embezzlement, figureheads.**

**28****th**** January 2902, Vaerakin, Ga'drak capital city.**

After departing Konurich station, disguising the Underworld Guild shuttle as a private shuttle with registration and records, the beginnings of Alex's plan of hijacking Zoran's bomb threat began.

To begin with, there were rumours and facts they had to go on. Namely, the information obtained by Raxler and Lexa's raid on Zoran's Ki'ristalis apartment had yielded more evidence of his life as Oro'naze, and the trades and stocks he held in Alliance and UIP companies, profiting from the war over its buildup and waging for 12 of the 16 years. This information did not actually link Zoran as being the same person as Oro'naze exactly, but it increased the evidence for all links to both save a few. They had no record of surgery to change his appearance, nor a name change, as the data that the deceased Bal'toro had disclosed via Eywa had been wiped from all sources after Zoran had him killed.

It was with the information on Zoran's various, and large numbers of stocks in Alliance companies in secret that had led Alex and his associates, at the recommendation of Soundwave and Iri'larn, had come to the Leg'hrul homeworld. To be able to support hijacking Zoran's bomb plot on the Kro'nogri homeworld for potentially a long time would require money, and someone trustworthy yet brand new to maintain that flow of resources directly to the bomb hijacking.

And what better way to strike a blow at Zoran, though one he could financially survive, than to 'reallocate' a large number of stocks in trading and cargo companies, held centrally within the Alliance stock systems. It was only by Zoran's knowledge of their FTL comms networks needed to trade stocks here that he still made a profit off it anyway.

The plan was simple, and why each of the members had come along.

Alex was an overseer, and he expected to in the very least to be disguised in action, his damaged vocal chords being helpful here. His human appearance would fit into the second stage of the plan though.

Soundwave had come along, having calculated a high probability for success once the funds were secured from Zoran's stolen stocks. The mech would handle hacking and security, whilst Laserbeak and Ravage would act as guards and attack if need be.

Kae'tano's role was paramount here, as he would be allocated the position as administrator of the stolen stocks, sending the funds to the bomb hijacking group once established. He would remain away from the actual bomb hijacking, sending supplies from afar.

Allocated to them was one additional Cybertronian, helping with transport, a Decepticon Femme, one with a large size and transport shuttle alternate form, Strika. She would be purely a transport and security role, as it was intended to avoid any shootouts. Though she would wreak havoc if need be.

The Underworld Guild, courtesy of Iri'larn, would provide mercenary soldiers for the raid, directly working for the UG or hired for the job, under the promise of a cut of any profits from the raids and the 'resources' acquired from it. They were a mixture of half Leg'hrul and half Kro'nogri soldiers, all wearing armour to hide their identties.

Still, it was not expected to be overly dangerous, as infiltration would be easy with Strika and Soundwave disguised as a shuttle and cloaked patrol fighter respectively, and Alex, Kae'tano and the UG mercenaries aboard Strika, along with the equipment provided by the Decepticons, and the few vehicles the UG loaned.

With the war ongoing, the Ga'drack central stock exchange was not exactly a high priority, nor well defended target on the Leg'hrul homeworld. And with a human present, when revealed, and confirmed as to Alex's facial identity, a stock exchange operation would be the least of their concerns.

**Ga'drak South Eastern District, Prae'taik Stock Exchange.**

Named after Prae'taik, an ancient Leg'hrul economic philosopher, the stock exchange sat squarely within the built up, multilayered downtown area of Ga'drak city.

On Vae'rakin, Ga'drak was the largest city, though it was not the capital. That distinction belonged to the city of Ru'saan, where the Leg'hrul royal palace was located.

Either way, a strike on the Leg'hrul homeworld would spread chaos and fear, especially once a UIP alien, even if unaffiliated, revealed himself.

Parking up, disguised as a security hover car, Soundwave analysed the Stock exchange from the other side of a large plaza with his internal scanners, hacking the local wireless networks and gaining schematics of the building's structure and systems. The mech did this all while relaying it to his other 'allies'.

Analysing the security systems, Soundwave began quickly creating programmes in his processor, to transfer on a quantum hardrive, which would disable the security on the stock market, without triggering fail-safes.

In the rear of the car, Laserbeak transformed into a security drone form, taking the hard drive into his compartment, and promptly flew out the vehicle, towards the stock exchange.

Nearer the stock market, a large delivery hover craft waited, Kro'nogri and Leg'hrul workers unloading small crates of building materials and construction drones. They were repairmen, scheduled by the building maintenance virtual intelligence network, as it was reported from scan reports that multiple fractures had developed metal fatigue.

It could not process that the reports had been falsified by an outside source.

Flying inside, the security drone passed through the entrance, having security clearance already. Stock brokers and other staff and security paid it no heed as it hovered over to a VI interface port, hooking up to download patrol routes, and give its security analysis details.

They would not have seen the disguised Laserbeak hook up the Quantum storage device, the programs already infiltrating the networks, analysing networks so that it would open up weak spots in the firewalls and security codes. Weakness specifically tailored to the hacking programs and devices that the Underworld Guild members would bring in with them.

As the stored programmes burrowed through the stock network security, Laserbeak himself hacked the building's external security protocols, bringing it under his control.

Elsewhere in the building, in the service corridors, the hired Leg'hrul and Kro'nogri pretended to prepare building materials, over-viewing the supposedly damaged wall sections. In reality, they pieced together weapons and equipment needed.

Receiving the go-ahead signal from Laserbeak, Ja'hail Rathor strapped the last stun grenade onto his belt, and led his team, one of 4, towards the central trading floor, using the staff corridors for access.

Ja'hail had been surprised to see Alex again, though their greeting was subdued due to the events concerning the NKI and Alex's incarceration. In fact, Ja'hail hardly recognized Alex at all, by his more rugged, even more scarred back and body, his now rasping, guttural voice, and a look in the human's eyes that Ja'hail found odd, a calmness of certainty.

When Alex told him of the plan for the stock market, and the need for funding to a branch of the Underworld Guild for a grand plan to end the war, Ja'hail had pressed further. Alex said to him that he couldn't say anything, that in time he would find out, but right now the plan hinged on another party's progress.

The lure of good payment, stolen from Zoran himself, silenced any further qualms that Ja'hail had.

The main trading floor was ahead, just through some central doors. Ahead, a pair of security guards looked at them, raising particle hand guns in a threatening tone.

"You can't be in here-" The first Leg'hrul guard was silenced by a stun blast squarely on the head, from one of the Kro'nogri hired guns, and the avian guard crumpled like a rag doll. Beside him, the other guard scrambled for his comlink, only for another stun blast from Ja'hail to silence him.

Before the second guard fell, the central trading floors were swung open, shortly followed by the doors on the other end of the trading hall.

Particle gunshots were fired in the air, sending stockbrokers and trade kiosk robots and stewards alike diving for cover, some just dropping to the floor. Screams echoed in the hall as particle shots impacted the information holoscreens, sparks and machinery falling from overhead.

At that moment, the security lockdown alarm sounded in the stock exchange, and outside, armoured doors began to close on the entrances and exits of the Stock exchange.

**1 hour later**

Atop the roof of a 300 metre tall skyscraper, Alex was watching the live feeds from Soundwave and Laserbeak, overseeing the stock robbery operation.

"Any casualties?" Asked Alex.

"**6 civilians tired to escape, over the past hour, all were shot and killed. One of the Kro'nogri mercenaries was wounded with one escaping civilian, an escaping security guard fired a shot into his arm. The same guard is dead, the mercenary will live."** Replied Soundwave.

"What about the police response?"

"**I moved to a site nearby, feigning a holographic sight of an abandoned patrol car, with holographic officers dead at the car's side. Around the Stock exchange there are 13 police hover cars, and 3 special operations transports. They have surrounded the plaza, but with the hostages that we took from the group in the central trading hall, and held by Strika's transport van form, the escape vehicle is still available."**

"The police will break when I reveal myself, attack and give them a target to pursue. I'll fire on some of the officers, and draw them off. That will give you time to escape, Strika to change to her second alternate mode, and begin the escape."

"**I suggest that some of the hostages be held onto, namely the ones by Strika right now. We will hold onto them until we make the jump back to Konurich station, then jettison them via escape pod when we do."**

Thinking briefly, Alex agreed: "Very well, your plan will work. I'll start my approach to the police lineup. Make sure the programmes are finished when I make my move."

Laserbeak chimed in now: **"Of Zoran's hidden stocks in the Sekeit Trading and the Lukian shipping companies, 88% of all owned stocks are transferred to ownership by Iri'larn's Underworld Guild branch. Zoran won't know of this until the next time he checks his stocks." **A cruel chuckle followed this comment.

"Good. Making my way there now. I just hope that the vehicle Shockwave allocated me does its job." Alex said.

Taking to the floors below, within minutes Alex was on route to the stock exchange via the air routes between the skyscrapers, a holographic cover of a police hovercar over his vehicle.

In reality, Alex was astride atop of a small Cybertronian flight cycle, its fuselage the size of a large 21st century Earth motorcycle, and its shape with wings extended similar to some military drones of the same era. Armed with twin particle rapid cannons, and a set of unguided rockets, it was moderately armed.

Banking down, police sirens blaring, Alex made his way to the hostage crisis.

**Stock Exchange**

"Done, last programme's finished." Said one of the Kro'nogri mercenaries. Smirking beneath his helmet, Ja'hail sent out the ready signal to Soundwave, Laserbeak, Strika and Alex. He called out to the mercenaries outside:

"Load up the four hostages into Strika's passenger bay. Remind the police what will happen if they try to save them."

With that said, Ja'hail order his troops out the trading floor, weapons trained on the traders and staff inside to prevent any attacks after all their work.

Outside, the lead officer on the scene, a seasoned Police Commander, called out the command on the emerging sight:

"Steady!"

A magnified voice spoke from the lead mercenary, it not being known that Ja'hail was the one speaking: "Any attempts to save our hostages or attack us, and they die!"

Turning on his comlink, the Commander stated on the channels: "Follow them, organize a pursuit party, but do not engage. We'll find out where they went, and try and rescue the hostages."

"**Sir, we've got another patrol car incoming. But its not registered as a friendl-"**

The sudden audio cutoff from another officer sounded milliseconds before the explosion detonated 50 metres away. All eyes, even those of the mercenaries, turned to the sight.

Another police car was flipped over, an explosion punching it into the air. Ahead, a hovering police car was aimed at them, and before their eyes, it flickered and faded as it flew towards them.

In its place, a small craft, with jagged edges and sinister, alien lines flew. It was smaller than any hover car, yet it sported deadly weapons that only military grade craft had.

Turning in mid hover, its armoured rider, astride it like a rider on a beast, opened fire with the craft's nose cannons. Particle fire devoured the plaza ground, and the craft's cannons tore down Leg'hrul officers in the street. Turning towards the mercenaries, it aimed its guns at them.

Soundwave came into play now, and projected a pair of holographic mercenaries to appear from inside Strika's hold, firing at the craft. One shot was imitated to hit Alex's helmet, a detailed, V visor helmet. The shot seemed to pierce the helmet's side, though not harm the wearer due to the scraping angle.

Overhead, Alex trained his sights on the hologram mercenaries, and fired a single neutron cannon burst. The holographic soldiers burst into flames and ashes, as the concentrated energy was made to appear to do what it would really do to any organic.

Turning to face the police, Alex increased his shields power, and he ripped off his helmet, folding it backwards to reveal his face.

Cries of outrage and surprise came from the police, as a human face, scarred, glared at them from above on his cybertronian flight cycle. His light blue eyes [a hologram disguise], scar covering skin patches and a bald cap he wore made him a completely unknown human.

Alex had chosen to forge a temporary identity, until he was ready to reveal his true identity, so that anonymity could help serve his plot to take control of Zoran's bomb plot. If it was known that Alex Hunter had been carrying out the plot, and Zoran found out, he would suspect something.

Before any police could get off a shot, Alex aimed his flight cycle at one of the 3 special Ops transports. A burst of cannon fire and a single rocket destroyed its side, ruining its canopy, and killing the two Leg'hrul inside. Without pause, Alex turned his flight cycle away, and applied thrust, the small fusion thrusters sending the antigravity lightened craft tearing away from the police.

Around 2/3 of the police hover cars took after him, along with one of the remaining 2 special Ops vehicles, sirens blaring aloud as they gave chase. Calls went out to other units to intercept, declaring a human presence, one that was highly armed and dangerous.

Left behind, Ja'hail had aimed his rifle, Hilda, at the back of the last hostage boarding Strika's passenger bay. With a hard shove with Hilda's barrel, he barked:

"Move it money!"

Whimpering, the last hostage boarded, and Ja'hail climbed aboard, giving a quick wave of his hand to Soundwave nearby, still disguised as a ruined police hovercar.

Inside, Ja'hail quickly aimed Hilda at the hostages, along with 6 others. The hostages cowered on the floor, and to Ja'hail's disgust, one of them had lost control of his bladder before they boarded, his suit leggings wet from the urine.

Turning his eyes to the medic, a young female Leg'hrul mercenary, named He'keis, he asked: "Roth'gan going to be fine?"

Looking up, she replied: "His arm will be fine, I managed to patch the wound and give a medigel application."

Shaking his head, Ja'hail remarked to the young male Kro'nogri, whose arm was now fully tended to: "You need to learn to react quicker boy."

"Hey, they jumped me alright! I didn't know that money suits would be stupid enough to try and jump us." Roth'gan protested, as he stood up, testing his arm cautiously for feeling.

"Yeah, they're smart enough to play the stocks. You'd think they'd know when to keep their heads down." Commented another Kro'nogri snidely, earning chuckles from inside Strika's passenger bay.

A harsh glare came from one of the hostages, a elderly Leg'hrul male, who spit at Ja'hail's feet. Strika's voice echoed over loudspeakers: "Disgusting!"

Agreeing, Ja'hail strode over and smashed Hilda's rifle butt into the Leg'hrul's shoulder, sending him crumpling to the floor, wheezing in pain. Growling, he said: "We're in a good mood from the pay we're getting from this mission, but if any of you 'money types' act out at all, and you'll be wishing for me to smash you with my rifle!"

Suffice to say no trouble came from the others the rest of the trip.

As the mercenaries and Strika contemplated their success, the involvement of Alex, Soundwave and Laserbeak came into its end phase, as would Ravage's role in this mission.

Outside, the police could only track the shuttle as it departed, unable to intervene unless they wished for the death of the hostages.

But even tracking them would be fruitless, as no one would dare follow them to Konurich station.

**Ga'drak city, 10 minutes later, Financial district mid levels.**

The blare of an air shuttle horn screeched in Alex's audio receivers, the driver panicking at the unknown flight cycle coming head on through oncoming air traffic.

Weaving in and out, Alex made sure that the police were still following him. The pursuing craft behind him had increased to 14 police hover cars, and 2 special ops trucks. They pursued above and below the air lane, unwilling to risk such a move with oncoming traffic.

This was where Alex's previous air combat pilot experience, before all the experimentation and training by the KI was done to him, came into play. Reacting with natural and synthetically enhanced timing, he rolled and pitched in and around incoming craft, staying in the air lane.

Narrowly avoiding clipping his flight cycle's small stubby wing on a violently swerving air taxi, Alex saw a brief message flash:

"**Strika and team on route. Hostages secure, stocks arranged, no mercenary casualties. Soundwave and team will assist at designated walkway crossing."**

On Alex's helmet HUD, a waypoint was made, and immediately, Alex swerved to head directly for it, finally leaving the oncoming traffic. By reaction, the police began to follow.

Gunning the engine, Alex heard the blares of the police sirens in the air, and ahead he saw the marked waypoint, which according to his mapping data was shown to be a walkway plaza, suspended 30 stories above ground level, as the designated waypoint.

At the same time, a lone police patrol car, having left the stock exchange amidst the chaos of the departing mercenary shuttle, landed near the same suspended walkway plaza's edge.

Soundwave located Alex, currently 3 miles away, inbound fast. Deploying his other accomplice, Soundwave ordered Ravage to transform into his opted form, the metal panther becoming a high velocity police drone before he even ejected from Soundwave.

The drone flew out, panicking civilians on the nearby walkway plaza.

Inside Soundwave, Laserbeak coordinated instructions to Alex: "Sensor blackout within 500 metre vicinity of walkway intersection in effect, now."

Soundwave unleashed his weapon, an EMP emitter. The disruptive waves blinded all sensors that weren't hardened, such as the general security surveillance feeds around the area of the walkway plaza, visual and audio.

Going full power, Alex saw Ravage was in position, arcing around to feign a police drone trying to intercept him.

Engaging specific autopilot function, Alex stood up, engaging a material he had not used in a long while. He coated himself in dark matter, and cloaked himself from view. In his place astride the seat of the flight cycle was an exact holographic replica of himself.

The walkway approached, and Ravage's pursuit drone form also produced a hologram as he drew alongside the flight cycle. In the image, a bolt of electrical blue-purple energy blasted the flight cycle, and at that instant, the engine died.

Before the bolt even was made to appear to hit, Alex had leapt from the flight cycle, a series of thick dark matter tendrils tethering him to Ravage's pursuit drone form, and reeling him in to cling on for dear life. Unknown to all but the human and Cybertronians, the driver of the flight cycle was not really aboard it.

Civilians pointed in awe and shock as an alien looking flight cycle was hit by the police drone's EMP blaster, and immediately began to curve downwards as its antigravity drive lost power.

Like a freefall bomb, the flight cycle fell downwards, the pilot seen to struggle with the controls [a clever hologram trick]. Police cars screamed in pursuit, but it was in vain.

The flight cycle crashed into the ground level, hitting a thankfully quiet office park square. The remaining explosive rockets inside the flight cycle were set off, and a bright explosion consumed the craft upon impact.

By the time police arrived, all that remained was a few metal fragments and shrapnel amidst the burning trees and ember strewn grass of the park.

**29****th**** January 2902**

**Alliance interstellar space.**

The meeting of a cybertronian recon fighter and a cybertronian transport was long awaited.

Strika and Ja'hail's team had left the hostages floating in escape pods from Strika's form. She was lucky to have gotten material additions to be able to make this sacrifice prior to the mission, so she had lost little.

Soundwave relayed the command to return to Konurich station, to begin planning for the next mission stage, while inside, Alex began to formulate the next stage's details.

Zoran's bomb team had managed to infiltrate the Kro'nogri homeworld, and he had a strong idea as to where they were currently.

Shockwave had been kind enough to place a tracker on the team's members, only broadcasting once per hour at random intervals to avoid detection. All Alex had to do was track them with his own team, and seize control of the bomb.

It would not really deviate from Zoran's intentions at first, but the end result would be vastly different.

**1st February 2902**

**Konurich station, occupied apartments.**

"So the bomb team Zoran, or Oro'naze as he was once called, dispatched has to still get into the capital city itself, which they'll manage within 2 weeks from what we're hearing from Shockwave." Summarized Alex, his raspy voice adopting a satisfied tone.

Around a small table, Je'rol, Moko'tel and Razid patiently listened in. Kae'tano had been dispatched to the Leg'hrul homeworld, Vaerakin, in wake of the stock market ploy. The money gained from the raided and possessed stocks would fund a new Underworld Guild branch there, which they had placed Kae'tano in charge of as promised. They now had a definitely loyal supplier from within the Underworld Guild, with racketeering and black market money funding any operations they took upon themselves.

"The team's using Shockwave as a message relay to Zoran. It's a good thing that he's emotionally restrained, and that Zoran still thinks he doesn't know of his 'colourful' past." Razid noted.

"So we wait for them to plant the nuke, and then we immediately sneak into the city with Decepticon help to take control of the nuke from them. What about the Decepticons already there helping the team?" Asked Je'rol.

Smugly, Alex said as clearly as he could with his damaged voice: "Shockwave will inform Blackout and Barricade of the plan while we're on route. They'll help us, but the organics among the black ops team were sent on what was basically a suicide mission anyway, though Zoran didn't tell them this. We'll just 'relieve' them of duty."

"A permanent vacation, the best way as I see it." Je'rol noted. He glanced over and saw Moko'tel's expression had become blank, if somewhat befuddled and annoyed in the very least. The Sril'sask pointedly asked: "What's the matter with you?"

"Kae'tano just sent a batch of leaked information our way. One of the resources he has is a bar, a quiet one, where the Leg'hrul royal palace guards hang out specifically. He revealed some interesting prisoners they have in custody. Namely one."

Leaning forward, Alex gestured Moko'tel to continue, which the Predator did:

"Sha'krii Herensk, female Kro'nogri, former Kro'nogri royal family member, sister to current King Lo'rath, disowned, detained until natural death for regicide, inciting and leading a rebellion faction and associating with the UIP leadership."

A pause rang, and all Alex could say was: "We manage to infiltrate the Leg'hrul homeworld, and we miss information like that?"

"Odd they're holding her on the Leg'hrul homeworld. Lo'rath must really hate her to not want her on one of his own worlds." Je'rol commented jokingly. Razid thought, and said: "Even if we knew, we would never have succeeded in getting her out."

Moko'tel noted: "Also, we're getting on fine on our own, and it would make her even more wanted if we broke her out somehow."

Agreeing, Alex declared: "I'm sure Shockwave knows about this, but I'll pass this on to him. We can do this ourselves, and Shak'rii will play her part once we get her on the throne. If that is to happen, we must disassociate with her at all times. Her staying in high security prison is actually a better chance for survival than with us."

In his head, as the others agreed with keeping Sha'krii uninvolved, Alex thought:

_Sha'krii would not like me at all if she'd heard me say that. I've condemned her to a prison, for her own safety. And close to her ex._

_Still, she can accept that it could be worse._

With that being said, all Alex and his group could do was wait until Zoran's brave, or foolish, black ops team managed to plant the nuke somewhere secure inside Tarihhis's capital city.

**University is a pain, work, work, work all the time.**

**Please review and read kindly, and I accept constructive criticism. I'll say that the story's plot from now until the climax is fully fleshed out, and expect more frequent updates.**


	34. Chapter 34

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 34: Brewing storm, mobilization.**

**8****th**** February 2902, Omaticaya Clan, Pandora, Alpha Centuari**

Gazing out over the rainforest canopy, Sru'sky happily marvelled at the familiar sight of home.

Her I'kran screeched in appreciation as she rubbed his nose, a small smile on her lips as he then took off, flying upwards to join the other I'kran in their roosts.

As Sru'sky gave one last look at the jungle, she was reminded of the awkward situation she was in. She had continued to turn down any and all tasks that involved working with the UIP intelligence bureau, as she feared that Zoran may know that she knew of his past identity, as explained by the NKI members that still lived, before they departed to other destinations. She had requested, and been granted a transfer to be a garrison trooper on Pandora, helping with rebuilding the few all but obliterated main, developed cities

Similarly, Trion had gotten a transfer to Cybertron, helping strengthen home defence in wake of the Dreadnought raids. They remained in contact still, and while their relationship, and friendship was still comfortable, they had agreed that not meeting in person for a while was a necessary precaution for a while. They had met 2 months ago, when they both had time off, and as agreed, they made the most of any time off they had.

Quirinth still worked as a soldier for hire for the UIP intelligence bureau, as did Lanver, but both were extremely cautious about things concerning Zoran. Quirinth and Lanver had passed on a message about a UIP intelligence building bombing over 2 months before, though no culprits were known, nor strongly linked suspects. Zoran had seemed on edge since then, but they thought that it was natural, as was it to much of the others that lived near that apartment complex.

Overall, the focus of the UIP's war policy was now focused on strengthening defences, as it was in the Alliance, with even their Dreadnoughts drawn back to defend their systems. Only the NKI Decepticon faction was active, and only by having taken Konurich station, and making it into a near impenetrable fortress with the lone NKI Pirate Dreadnought.

For that reason, Sru'sky laid low, but there were some blessings to this less active military life in a time of mutual rearmament. She could more freely visit her home tribe and mother when she had a week off.

**9****th**** February 2902, New Cybertron, New Iacon outskirts**

Standing on the edge of the cliff, Trion gazed out into the blackness of the cold wasteland. The stars shone eternally overhead, the rogue planet having escaped its star's gravity hundreds of millions of years ago, wandering the galaxy slowly.

Being back home, Trion contemplated the planet briefly. The planet had drifted slowly through space, enough that even between its Cybertronian settlement in 2053 and the present date, its position had only changed by an eighth a light year within 849 years, leaving no cause for alarm, as other, less mobile worlds would have been settled long before it became an issue. Also, with the time and technology their race had, they could easily construct massive machines within a few hundred years to slow the planet's transit, which was already planned, but archived for use within a few millennia.

Trion knew where he was though, as he had a map within his processor and programs. Behind him, the glow of the city of New Iacon shone, the environmental super domes , constructed for easy access by organics, outlining much of the city. Trion had visited his mother already, the femme currently living in a reasonable dwelling in the non-organic parts of the city. She seemed happy, working in a pumping facility, producing synthetic energon and working in one of many pumping stations on a global energon pipe network.

His blue optics shining in the darkness, Trion felt good to be home. He found himself wishing he could be back with Firi'sry, or even Quirinth as simply a friend. But, they wanted to go their own ways just for once, which was understandable. They would see each other again in a week or two.

Turning on his heel, the silver mech began to trek back to the city, a 20 mile journey. Looking over the city as he began to walk, Trion muttered to himself:

"Of course Iacon's well equipped for organics. Kaon's much more exclusive towards organics."

With that thought, Trion's mind wandered idly to the Decepticons, and how they were isolated in Alliance space, but well fortified, and giving the Alliance a real hard time when they tried to take back their space station capital.

Yet like many, Trion never wanted to join. It gave the Decepticons a chance to redeem their long ago ruined reputations, and took them off world. And Optimus certainly approved, and a Prime's word was sacred.

Though rumours still circulated that Shockwave would have likely led the Decepticons off world with or without Prime's approval. And worse still, there was concern about the consequences of winning the war, and the return of the Decepticon faction to New Cybertron. Would they cooperate, or continue the violence?

Only time would tell.

**9****th**** February 2902**

**Ki'ristalis, downtown back alleys.**

The chants of excitement roared in the bar as the fight progressed on the holoscreens, the 2 teams of Sril'sask battling on the raised platform. Their faces on screen were strained, as each team's 5 members sought to forcibly push the other team off the edge of the platform, into the water below and around the platform.

As the dominating team captain headbutted an opponent player squarely in the jaw, a cheer rose from a group of excited fans, high from the synthecol effects. Uninterested, Quirinth sipped her own drink, a real alcoholic drink, namely a Klingon spirit, and looked at the other holoscreen displays.

On one screen, she saw a news report about the fortified Decepticons at Konurich station, whom were bunkered down, and with a full station and Dreadnought with their technology, looked to be able to hold their own for a long time. Footage showed as the human news commentator explained the unchanged situation, with Shockwave directing his forces against a small hit and run fleet raid by the Alliance on the station.

It was on the second screen that Quirinth found herself curious. It showed Zoran at a UIP government conference, pushing for more investment into the medical sciences and medicine industry to help lessen losses in the war. She wondered to herself about how it might feel to be pushing for these things, knowing fully well it was to heal a war almost directly caused by him.

But she knew better, and knew that Zoran probably knew the mistake of starting the war was too long ago to fix for himself. The best she could hope was that someone or a group would expose him, though his own help in softening the war might actually be helpful, a way of soothing his own conscience.

Take down the helpful liar that antagonized an already seemingly war paranoid and hungry Alliance, or let him try and fix his mistakes. It was an impossible impasse, and Quirinth was glad that she would not get involved in it as long as he had her way.

Downing her spirit, she muttered to herself: "It's not my problem, its his."

Looking over, she saw the group of cheering sports fans, seeing a few male Predator faces in the mix. Summoning her courage and relaxing herself, Quirinth resigned to forget about the war tonight, and try her luck among the men of her kind.

**9****th**** February 2902**

**Ba'hras system, Planet Dev'ral, Peragoth colony.**

Despite hearing of Norstith's death nearly 3 weeks before, by a painfully received message from the Solaris survivors, the pain was still a somewhat fresh wound to Se'rie.

Her mother had taken Norstith's death hardest, and had shut herself in her room for 24 hours to mourn. He had never gotten another organic body as he so desired, and he died trapped in a metal shell to sustain him. After the mourning day, she had very slowly begun to return to her old self. But the empty look Fe'lera held in her eyes at times when remembering Norstith, and the fact that all her siblings were dead by the war in one way or another, suffocated Se'rie.

Se'rie had buried herself in her work, and had been appointed to communications techie for the colony police. Chief Da'ros was hard but fair to her, as he was to everyone in his uniform. She had been offered a job as an officer, but she had declined. Though she had combat skills thanks to Alex and others giving her training, she preferred the quieter life of simply maintaining communications hardware.

Today though was a day off, and Se'rie had decided to visit her brother and wife at their house.

Sa'thor was currently out, and talk had been pleasant enough with Kail'aris. The initial shock of being pregnant had long worn away, and the pains and physical toll that came with carrying new life was beginning to have its effect on Kail'aris. With the egg due between the 26th February [UIP human calander], she was close to laying it. And there was still the 3 month incubation period to follow.

With her belly already protruding quite noticeably, and her ankles swollen and wings aching from extra effort from what flying she could do, Kail'aris was exasperated from the stress she had to endure from just one egg.

"To think that twins are common, one egg is a pain to start with." Kail'aris commented. Chuckling to herself, Se'rie merely said: "About half of pregnancies in Leg'hrul are more than one egg, so you're among the lucky half of the female population, same as your mate's and mine mother."

"How is she by the way, and you? I heard about it on the news broadcasts."

"Norstith? They were late with that news then. But I'm fine, just, sad for him. My mother's much better now, but she's still a bit distant when he's mentioned." Se'rie said, her gaze dropping a bit. Reaching forwards, she took her drink of water from the table.

In confusion, Kail'aris asked: "You haven't heard about Ral'craz prison, and the escape attempt?

Se'rie scrunched in confusion, her beak grinding in puzzlement, and Kail'aris said: "They only released it now, since they were investigating, or that's what the media's reporting. It was actually a week before Norstith died. There was a mass riot in the Ral'craz prison, and 10 prisoners managed to escape the prison. They set fire to the rainforest around the pit, and the guards had to surround them. The news says that the most of the escapers went into the abandoned mines near the colony, in a small mountain, to try and get through to a place closer to the colony."

"But the tunnels were abandoned because of a Ta'rikei infestation, a giant native insect species that live underground. They never tried to remove them because the mine itself was not doing well anyway. The prison would drive prisoners into the tunnels as a hopeful route for escape, but guard the other side in case."

"And I take it no one ever made it out?" Se'rie asked, seeing where this was going.

"No, and the same was with these five escapees. They went in, but never came out, presumably killed." Kail'aris seemed to hesitate with the next sentence.

"And they released the news only this time because there was one, only one confirmed, that passed through the colony and escaped. He was a leader of the Stock exchange raid on Vae'rakin, over a week ago. He's set himself up as a crime boss on the planet since then."

Kail'aris brought out her portable data device, and brought up an article she had read. Handing it to Se'rie, she said: "The lone escaper was a Kro'nogri, named Kae'tano. Its been confirmed that none of the other escaping prisoners were seen in the colony. I thought you would want to know about this because, well, Alex was in the prison as well."

Looking at the list, Se'rie scrolled through the article, seeing a picture, with a scale Leg'hrul and Kro'nogri beside it, showing the Ta'rikei species, worker and soldier class together, much bigger than she expected.

Further down, she saw little information on the other four escapees, only that there were 4 confirmed humans, 1 Sril'sask, 2 Kro'nogri, 1 Klingon and 2 Predators. No names were given, and the article stated that there were investigations heavily underway concerning a suspiciously timed shuttle landing in the mountains, a few days following the escape, for an unknown purpose. A deciphered transmission showed mention in the message of a group of 5 passengers to be picked up from a supposedly 'hiking and camping' holiday. This led to strong suspicions of multiple breakouts.

Wordlessly, Se'rie studied the article, and Kail'aris asked: "Do you think Alex might have been with them?" Silently, Se'rie pondered the possibility. The only confirmed escapee, released to the public, was Kae'tano, and only because he was now active in the public. And only 5 pickup possible for the shuttle meant that 5 had not made it, whether captured or worse, eaten. The though of Alex being dead was a possibility that Se'rie had accepted about a month after his imprisonment, and his death might actually serve to soothe her, provide closure, once the short term grief was done.

What Se'rie, or even the escapees themselves realised, was that some 5 plucky prisoners had tried to follow them, with 3 being captured or killed in the jungle, and one drowning. The last had stayed hidden, but unfortunately was driven into the Ta'rikei tunnels. And that unlucky prisoner didn't have an ally with no detectable heartbeat to help him.

**20****th**** February 2902**

**Konurich station**

Studying the message, Shockwave began issuing commands simultaneously to support team to ready for an infiltration mission.

The message was from Soundwave, whom was currently on the Kro'nogri homeworld, deep undercover, along with Blackout, Barricade and Tyrania. They were in position on the capital, as was the black ops team chosen to position Zoran's bomb.

2 weeks before, Shockwave had dispatched Soundwave, Blackout, Barricade and Tyrania to escort the Black Ops team to Tarihhis, namely to the 3rd largest city on the planet, which was incidentally the capital, Eru'lindi.

The bomb had been set, deep beneath the city, hidden within an abandoned, underground part of the city. The Black Ops team were tasked with guarding the bomb, but to never be seen directly by the native Kro'nogri. Soundwave and his other Decepticons were tasked with providing surface intelligence, until the time was right to issue the bomb threat, by timing it with a small scale raid on an Alliance captured colony on the UIP outskirts.

The raid was scheduled for the 4th March, and Shockwave had finally issued the secret command. Alex and his selected organic crew, and a handful of Decepticons of Shockwave's choosing, were to head to Tarihhis, and with an undercover operation, seize control of the bomb.

Next, they would carry out the bomb threat, but with as little violence as possible, isolating the city from the rest of the planet and galaxy, excluding relief supplies. The timing was so that the Kro'nogri royal family would be trapped also.

To maintain control of the city, until Zoran came with his proposed temporary ceasefire group, they would take control of the criminal underworld in the city. This was where Kae'tano's new stock funds and Underworld Guild connections would come in useful. They would provide any supplies the bomb threat would deny, to try and prevent starvation riots.

Additionally, they had an epiphany with Zoran and his former identity. If they seized control of the city, and took the royal palace also, they would have access to security records from it. There was a high chance that records of Zoran, or Oro'naze, would be present, and in the very least a DNA or voice match could be carried out.

However, this plan was entirely dependant on securing the bomb.

Boarding the Alliance shuttle, Alex found it strange to be boarding another Decepticon as transport. This one was Blackout's spark sibling, a very big mech named Grindor, much the same physically but bigger, and lighter in colour.

Beside Alex, Je'rol, Moko'tel and Razid sat expectantly, along with numerous assigned Kro'nogri mercenaries, provided by the Underworld Guild, namely Kae'tano.

Ja'hail led them now, and sat opposite Alex. The human was glad to have Ja'hail, a dependant, familiar face.

Outside, 2 other Decepticons would flank them, both of whom were to join their trine brother once at Tarihhis. Skywarp and Thundercracker would provide escort, disguised as small, unarmed shuttles. They would join Starscream once the bomb was taken control of.

On Shockwave's command, via the comms network, the 3 Decepticons exited the hanger bay, aligning a course for an FTL jump to a uncolonized star 20 light years away. Once there, they would drop out of FTL, reset their course, and head straight to Tarihhis's system, to avoid being traced to Konurich station.

Not 10 minutes later, the trio of craft flew from the hanger, both taking off from a atmospherically shielded hanger bay. The craft turned to the pre-plotted course, and within a minute, once clear of the station, began charging for FTL.

Looking out the window, Alex saw the superstructure of Konurich station, a peeled open cigar shape, with pinwheels surrounding it. Some parts were still damaged, exterior plating being welded in place or still gone, exposing the honeycomb of floors and sectors within.

Beside the 16 kilometre long station was a 12 kilometre long, cigar shaped Dreadnought, its wedge like wings extending only a short distance from the body, allowing broadside guns to face forwards when turned. The vast Dreadnought had been equipped with Cybertronian grade weapons to replace the Alliance ones never emplaced in the shipyard. Flanking the Dreadnought, and stationed defensively around the station were a flotilla of 20 Cybertronian cruisers, 30 Cybertronian Frigates, and 40 Carrier corvettes. The Carrier corvettes, with their long extending docking tendrils, were an almost direct descendant of the same large craft used as fighter carriers on Earth in 2011, during the last major Decepticon-Autobot battle in the city of Chicago.

Looking away from the virtual viewport, Alex saw a glimpse of the light dilation as Grindor went to FTL, with Skywarp and Thundercracker coming at later intervals to avoid suspicion.

Turning to Ja'hail, Alex asked: "Ja'hail, I've been meaning to ask something about the other NKI leaders. I know that Se'rie's safe in her home colony, Shockwave is leading his army here, Xale, Lexa, Azula, Raxler and Aru'san are alright, and that Norstith is, dead."

Alex swallowed a bit at mentioning Norstith, as he recalled meeting the Solaris attack survivors after his stock market raid. He had not revealed he had escaped, as he had also asked Shockwave. He wanted the element of surprise when they finally struck.

_**6**__**th**__** February 2902**_

_**Konurich station**_

_It was only 5 days since he had returned from the stock market raid on Vae'rakin. And only two days had passed since Alex had seen the Liberator, and its surviving forces both from the island and its space fleet, crawl into the Konurich station docking bays._

_Alex knew that he had to keep the element of surprise, and he had told this to Je'rol, Moko'tel and Razid if they ever met the Solaris survivors. This was easier for them, as they only knew them by name and appearance, and not at all in person._

_Alex though had to make an appearance, but he would not reveal himself yet. SO he kept the same disguise he had donned for the stock market raid, that of a tall, flesh armed and legged human being, with a shaved head and non scarred face. Skin patches and dark matter patchwork would disguise him, and he had resorted to a small eye visor, projecting the image of bright blue eyes over his red ones. He now was a completely different person, and if asked about the dark matter, he was a former Varya prisoner._

_He wouldn't lie about being a Ral'craz escapee though. But his identity would be false, but with a justification._

_Walking down what was once a park plaza, in a former bustling business park, Alex saw one of the survivors. Lexa stood at the edge of a railing, overlooking a dried up fountain pool, her back to Alex._

_Not bothering to sneak up, Alex walked towards her, his footsteps relaxed, echoing in the quiet station area. Immediately Lexa's head whipped to him, and Alex had to force himself to keep walking as he saw her face._

_Blank, devoid of emotion, but tense._

_Stopping just 4 metres short of her, Alex spoke, his voice masked, and enhanced for clarity with his cracked vocal chords, by a throat inserted amplifier: "The female clone, I take it?"_

"_I have a name. Lexa Damien." She said gruffly._

"_Damien? I thought you had no last name. Why change it now?"_

"_It was my original source's last name. Now that he's probably dead, I think he won't mind if I use it for myself in passing."_

"_I knew him, briefly, and I think he would be insulted to hear you say that." Alex said._

_Scowling, Lexa hissed: "I know who you are. You're Dominic Cortez, Ral'craz escapee, along with Razid, Moko'tel, Je'rol and Kae'tano, whom you just put in charge of a criminal gang on Vae'rakin. You think just because you may have met him once in prison you know him?"_

"_Oh he and I spoke. We had many talks, and the place began to break him down. By the second month he had already been attacked, and had tried to escape, but the guards brought him back quickly, knocked out. When we finally broke out, I never saw him leave his bed cell when a riot started to try and follow us out. He's probably still there now. He kept saying that he feels he truly failed."_

_Alex kept putting up the façade, his voice slipping between sympathy and spite in a cruel mix, to make it seem he was a different person. Lexa was now livid, and suddenly Alex felt a cold grip on his neck, and a sharp prod of sorts on his throat. Looking down slightly, Alex saw a dark matter tendril coiled around his neck, loose but ready, and he saw Lexa had pulled one of her swords out, and had it at his neck._

"_Ah, I wouldn't do that Ms. Damien. Shockwave has me, Je'rol, Moko'tel and Razid signed up for an upcoming mission, and how would he respond to you killing one of his chosen members?"_

_Alex felt the blade press ever so slightly harder, before Lexa hissed out a breath of aggravation, releasing his neck and retracting the blade. Alex Damien, or Dominic Cortex as he was now known, saw Lexa begin to storm off. He quickly called to her: "Give my advice to the others you came with. If you take the loss of your creator this hard, how long until you shatter when you start losing others? I am working to prevent this, as you are. But stay out of my way."_

_Lexa shouted back: "You escaped Ral'craz, but that doesn't mean you can suddenly take such a high position."_

_Walking away, Alex said under his breath: "No Lexa, I am taking control of this war for myself. No allegiances, no loyalties, just my morals. And I'm tired of needless war, as is everyone else. In time, they will see what I am going to do was the best option."_

**20****th**** February 2902**

**Interstellar Alliance space, 3 days from Kro'nogri capital Tarihhis**

"Yeah?" Asked Ja'hail.

"Sha'krii is imprisoned on Vae'rakin, for what charges we know but why Vae'rakin we don't know."

"What are you saying?" Asked Ja'hail.

"Where are Kirth and La'kias? Shouldn't they be leading the NKI?"

"Well, since New Cybertron, and the decrease in Dreadnought attacks, the NKI's gone to ground mainly, like the Alliance and UIP. They're regrouping, building new sources of influence and force, and Kirth and La'kias have imbedded themselves in an Underworld Guild cell to do this. We don't know to keep them safe." Ja'hail explained.

"Anywhere we can rule out?" Moko'tel asked, informed about the NKI leadership.

"We only know that they're in a largely populated system, but we're not sure if they together or separate each. But we can count out the homeworlds, that's for sure."

Sighing in relief, Alex said: "I suppose, like Sha'krii, maybe its for the better that they won't get involved."

**Sorry guys, internet went down for a very long time, was moving apartments and the broadband company was being anal about getting things going.**

**I've been making more progress on my story in the meantime, so please read and review honestly.**


	35. Chapter 35

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 35: Coup in the Catacombs, new digs.**

**24****th**** February 2902, **

**Tarihhis [Kro'nogri homeworld], Eru'lindi capital city.**

**South Eastern Sewage treatment plant.**

Signing the data pad with his digital signature, Ja'hail handed the data pad back to the sewage works administrator. The administrator checked the forms, and looked back:

"Everything looks good. Use tunnel B3, but be careful, there's been reports of Rahl'kin in the tunnels, and they carry diseases from the catacombs."

Ja'hail asked honestly: "Are they deadly?"

"Not if you're vaccinated, but it can still get an allergic reaction even if you're immune, enough to make it difficult to work. I'd recommend using a vehicle with medical treatment in the tunnels."

"That's what the truck's for in the Gal'dan district, 16th street. We've got it above the point we need to get at, but we need to have a team below to make sure it gets set up alright." Ja'hail explained.

"No need to say anymore. Just get the job done, you took your time responding to the burst power circuit, it was 2 hours before you shut it off."

"There were problems out end, what they were I don't know. We'll have the power couplings fixed within the day." Ja'hail said, before he walked out, sending a pre set text message to the 'truck'.

5 minutes later, Ja'hail was in an envirosuit, for health and safety reasons, along with 4 other Kro'nogri. Though Kro'nogri were rather strong against disease, there were some potent viruses and bacteria in the sewers, and coming from the catacombs.

Setting off, Ja'hail led his 4, 3 male Kro'nogri and 1 female, down the tunnel, being careful to stick to the side walkways in the cylindrical pipeline, 6 metres in diameter.

**Gal'dan district, 16****th**** street.**

A large sewage aero truck was parked in the centre of a crossroads, directly over the top of a sewage maintenance hatch.

In position, Grindor turned his internal sensors on, giving the green light to those inside to begin.

Inside, on the floor of the truck, a hatch opened, revealing the road surface and manhole directly beneath it. Grindor was parked so anyone entering the manhole would be unseen, going directly from truck to sewer.

Opening the manhole cover from the truck compartment, Alex gave the signal to Je'rol and Razid to follow him. Still in his blue eyed, unscarred fully human disguise, Dominic Cortez, he grabbed the service ladder, thankful for the similar spacing of spurs on Kro'nogri designs as was on human designs. Razid quickly followed, and they stayed beneath to support Je'rol, whose tail made it awkward to climb through the manhole.

Still inside Grindor's compartment, Moko'tel sat at a computer console, helping Grindor by coordinating the 2 teams with data he relayed to his computer holoscreen.

As for Grindor himself, aside from mapping the sewer networks, and linked catacombs, he was on lookout for their hidden allies.

Around the corner, in Grindor's telescopic visual sensors, he saw a small, single person road vehicle, a sleek, fast police pursuit hovercraft. A quick scan, and a flick of lights from the vehicle, showed that Tyrania was in position, down a road a half mile away.

On a direct channel, the Decepticon femme relayed a quick data feed, which Grindor applied to the surface maps he projected onto Moko'tel's screens. It now showed the locations of all Decepticons on the planet.

Starscream had been joined by his trine, Skywarp and Thundercracker, in a mountain range canyon 50 miles away, secluded from view.

Tyrania was down a large street, in view of Grindor, as he had confirmed, and was on standby, while Blackout was currently in a parking bay 3 miles away, his light shuttle form hidden among a few others like it.

Barricade was currently parked in an alley 2 miles away, disguised as an undercover police aerocar.

Grindor and Moko'tel didn't need to use the maps to find where Soundwave was, as he had currently pulled up and parked near the parked aerotruck, using an alley as a hiding place. His sleek sports aerocar form was now only 200 metres away.

A message showed that neither Ravage nor Laserbeak were with Soundwave though, as they had gone along with the UIP black ops team to escort them.

Moko'tel relayed this to Alex, Razid, Je'rol and Ja'hail, the latter of whom would tell his team. There would be two smaller Decepticons inside the sewers or catacombs to assist them, and help make taking the bomb and killing the black ops team as clean and quiet as possible.

At least, to those not involved.

**Eru'lindi city, Ga'dran district**

**50 metres below street level, sewage pipeline network.**

Both groups had been lucky to travel in tunnels lit by the overhead lighting, though they came with head lighting for the lower, less used levels.

"Moko'tel, which way? We've got a fork in the paths here." Asked Alex.

"**Wait a moment, done. There's an access tunnel, take the left tunnel, and it's the third door on the right."**

Briskly, Alex led Je'rol and Razid on, coming to the access door. Coming to the electronic lock, Razid came forwards with a palm sized device, placing it over the handprint scanner. A copy of a registered maintenance worker's print was scanned, and the door opened. Inside, Alex saw a corridor, but with a trapdoor like hatch on the floor.

"**Take the hatch in front of you. It leads into the lowest service tunnel level."**

"Another ladder." Muttered Je'rol as they opened the hatch to climb further down. Coming to the floor, Alex looked around, but it was Razid who first spotted it. A quarantine sign marking, on a manually locked service door.

"**The door is manually locked, so you'll need to turn the handle yourself. They used manual systems for redundancy, there were some nasty diseases they didn't want released down there. Not so much for the locals anymore because of medicine, more for the wildlife."**

Je'rol gripped the lock handle, turning the slightly stiff handle 90 degrees upwards, a loud clunk sounding in the tunnel. Razid commented aloud: "With what the UIP team has put down there, if they set it off those diseases are gone."

As Alex gripped the door release latch, he added: "Along with most of the city, or more if Zoran was really desperate." Gripping the latch, he pulled the door.

Inside was a small room, brightly coloured white. Piling in, they closed the door behind them, and as soon as it shut, a spray issued from the walls, covering the three in a fine mist.

Fanning the mist from his face, Alex/Dominic spoke, his voice still deeply scratchy, but magnified in volume for clarity by his throat implant, improving his voice volume and blocking certain nerve ends in his throat to relieve the pain from the acid burns.

"Masks on, we'll need the full environmental suit disguise to hide ourselves."

Putting on his mask, Razid looked at Je'rol's custom made environmental suit: "Well you and me can fit in Kro'nogri suits, but I don't think they'll believe he's Kro'nogri."

"**Disguising or not, keep the suits on. We'll need to scan the environment of the Catacombs with your suits' sensors. If the diseases won't affect someone, then they can take the suit off." **Moko'tel reminded them.

In front of the three envirosuit clad figures, the door opened, and a disappointing site lay before them.

Utter blackness.

Sighing, Razid said: "Best hit our head lights." Clicking them on, the LED light beams lit up the manmade tombs. Before them, a cobbled stairwell led down for a floor, before levelling off.

Advancing through, Alex looked around, seeing only a few support pillars, arches, and the occasional skeleton of a few different vermin creatures.

"Moko'tel, where are we? And is anyone with us in the room?" Asked Alex/Dominic.

"**No, no one else in the room. You're in an atrium of sorts, but Laserbeak just reported to Soundwave, who gave us this. The bomb and team have set up camp approximately 400 metres away, and 30 metres down. A small chamber of sorts, I'll give you a route to follow on your HUDs."**

A few moments, and a holographically directed route appeared on their envirosuit visors.

Ahead there was a set of tunnels, and one curving downwards and to the right among them. With haste, 'Dominic Cortez', Razid Akbular and Je'rol made their way deeper into the ancient catacombs.

**Catacombs lower levels.**

"**Keep going down this corridor, Ja'hail's team will be coming into it in a few moments. Watch the corridor for lights."**

Keeping on the move, Razid led the trio forwards, with Je'rol then Dominic Cortez behind him. On the ground there were tombs, so many that they were sunken into the floor to form the floor itself.

The whole place was a greenish brown colour, like stone rotting with an algae or mould. Cracks criss crossed the walls and floors, and the place was deathly silent, except for the faint footsteps they took carefully.

Ahead, Razid saw a flicker of white light, then again, on the floor. It came from a second stairwell, leading into this hallway. Giving a signal, the three flattened themselves against the slimy stone wall.

Peering around, Alex saw in his nightvision that Ja'hail's team advanced slowly out into the hallway, the 4 other Kro'nogri stopping to shine their head lights into corners of the hallway.

Moko'tel spoke to Ja'hail: **"Ja'hail, Dominic, Razid and Je'rol are 8 metres down the hallway leading right from the stairwell you just came down."**

Slowly, Ja'hail shone his torch into the wall sections, while Alex/Dominic slowly emerged from hiding, giving a hand signal to signal the OK.

This time, Soudwave spoke on the comms: **"Search teams, Black Ops team and bomb are located in a central atrium. Teams will follow directions as uploaded to suit HUDs. Laserbeak and Ravage are ready, and will assist when combat begins."**

On HUD screen, Ja'hail saw his team's directions, leading down the hallway, into a small corridor, small enough for only single file. Not arguing, he silently led his team towards it.

Meanwhile, Alex/Dominic, Je'rol and Razid quietly took a downstairs route, which their 3D maps showed as coming up from below the atrium.

On screens, both teams used live feeds from Laserbeak and Ravage to see the status of the Black Ops team.

**Catacombs, tomb atrium, Black Ops camp.**

Camping out, the 10 Black Ops team members were bored. They had arrived here with the bomb on the 10th, and after finishing assembling and activating it on the 13th, they had nothing to do except guard it. Zoran knew it was in place, and they were waiting on the specific raid in the UIP outskirts, to try and take control of the Gel'dren colony back for the Greys.

What they didn't know was something else was to be triggered by this raid.

Zoran had worked with the military department to time this raid very precisely, as it occurred just 1 day before a meeting of the Kro'nogri and Leg'hrul military leadership would take place, hosted by the Kro'nogri, in their war cabinet. The military representatives, and the Kro'nogri royal family, would all be in the city when the raid took place, preparing for the war meeting the next day.

With the bomb threat revealed, they would hold the city hostage, namely the leadership of the Alliance military, and demand at least a temporary ceasefire, so negotiations could take place more easily for an actual end to the fighting.

The team had no names, only codes and numbers. Their leader, a male Predator, was called Hu'drac, or silence in an ancient Predator language.

Hu'drac looked around, seeing his team passing the time as they saw fit. There was a game of cards going on between the 4 Humans, all male, and the female Klingon team member. They bet stones from around the hall in place of money.

2 Romulans stood guard, watching the corridors for movement. They weren't expecting anyone down here, because of the diseases dangerous to Kro'nogri, even with vaccinations, and the bacteria.

That was why they all could leave their helmets off, the diseases couldn't jump from one species to an alien race.

The last two, another male Predator and a female Vulcan, had clean their weapons, as grime and dust from these catacombs accumulated quickly on anything.

Up above, their Decepticon escorts, Laserbeak and Ravage, were perched on a series of broken columns overlooking the team.

In the back end of the hall, standing out from their sleeping and cooking equipment, stood three large devices, one covered in armour. The first was a small fusion reactor, low power yield, and very durable, using shielded panels to convert heat directly into energy. It provided power to the second object, and power to the third's single electrical circuit.

The second object, about the size of a bedside table when fully assembled, was only meant for long term missions, and considering the circumstances, helped them to never go to the surface for supplies. A Replicator, still moderately costly technology, and the source of the end of poverty outside of war, which provided all the ammunition, fusion fuel sources, clothing, food, water, medicine and antibiotics.

The third device had only been completed on the 13th February, and the only power it drew was to keep the trigger circuits active.

The fusion bomb, a 10 megaton yield bomb, capable of destroying most of Eru'lindi city, and damaging the rest. The firing chamber carried a small amount of plutonium, which induced a fission chain reaction, with a 10 kiloton blast, to induce the fusion reaction, the bomb's true strength. They had carried the components down, using Blackout over a manhole [Much as Grindor had with the two teams on route], and assembled on site. The heaviest section had been the Lead lined Plutonium firing chamber, at 50 pounds.

Suddenly, Hu'drac's comms device hissed, louder than normal. The catacombs were disruptive to surface communications, and right now, they were cut off.

"Go check the comms booster in the tunnel, and fix it." He called out to one of the male humans. The man got up, quickly running up the nearest stairwell, following a thin, trailed power cable.

"One of those rat things probably bit it again." The human male muttered as he ran out of sight.

Sneaking by, Razid quietly knelt down near the archway edge, staying in the shadows. The lighting the Black Ops team had set up in their underground camp gave him a clear view of the targets.

Quietly, Razid pulled the rifle off his back, the magnetic grasps releasing it as he gripped it. He had assembled it before splitting off from Alex and Je'rol, the barrel, mass accelerator chamber and grips. Now, he perched himself, kneeling so he could shoulder his rifle, he aimed through the scope.

He searched the roofs first, and saw Laserbeak in the ceiling arches, atop a broken column section, an optic turning to him ever so slightly. Aiming down, he saw the 9 remaining team members, and searched for the leader. Ravage was alongside, very slowly shifting to angle his panther like body downwards.

A man on the comms, a male Predator, seemed to fit the bill. In the echoes of the camp, he briefly heard him asking for another to report in, but getting no response.

Knowing the others were moving in, Razid had his target lined up, and waited.

"Ha'drac, I'm at the comm booster, and the cable's been cut again. Those rat things, Hal'tai, but through the wires again. I'll have it fixed in half an hour."

"**We'll lay the reinforced wire in the next two days. I'll have it Replicated by tonight. And make it fast, we need to have constant comms contact."**

"Yes sir." Bending down, the man got out the repair tools, and disconnected the comm booster to avoid a shock once fixed. As he finished disconnecting it, he could swear he could hear a faint humming somewhere, like a mosquito near his ear.

In a hot flash on the back of his neck, something sliced through his skin and vertebrate. Before the human man could utter one sound, he was dead, his neck half severed from the rear.

His body keeled forwards, but an envirosuit clad human, having used dark matter to cloak against a wall, caught him, bloody vibro sword still in hand. Slowly lowering the human to the ground, Dominic Cortex had killed the man without making a sound.

On the man's black ops uniform, a radio buzzed, with his leader, ha'drac calling in for a status report. Dominic ignored this, and gave a nod to Je'rol, who slowly made his way through a stairwell further back.

Up above, Laserbeak gave the signal, and Ravage turned to a level outcropping nearby, and opened his mouth.

From his mouth, millions of microscopic robots poured out like fine grains of sand, spilling in a puddle on the outcropping. Pulling back, Ravage watched as the pool rose up and took form. In front, the millions of little robots merged into a blade thin figure, all but invisible when viewed straight on. Reedman was ready.

Training his optics back on the Black Ops team, Ravage sent the commands to Reedman's CPU, a collective intelligence between the millions of robots. He targets were set.

Back in the camp, Ha'drac gave up trying to call for a status report on the comm booster. Growling slightly, he began to head to the booster himself, ready to berate his subordinate for not reporting in.

As he glanced over at the others, the card players engrossed in their game, a sudden glint in the light caught Ha'drac's attention, and in front of his eyes, one of the male humans fell to the floor. The human's insides literally spilled from his back, a deep cut made all the way down his head and torso, like an angle grinder had been very quickly taken through him.

Shouting erupted, and from behind the split human man leapt a figure made of razor sharp edges. Particle and railgun shots were let loose, but the figure leapt and flipped, its razor thin body nearly impossible to his from the front. It never showed it's side to them.

Looking up, Ha'drac saw a metal form, much larger, jump from the arches. Ravage landed heavily, cracking the ground beneath his four paws, snarling at the others. Wincing as particle fire and railgun shots peppered his body, he leapt forwards, metal fangs crunching on the Klingon female's head, silencing her milliseconds after he was upon her.

Pulling out a superheat grenade, Ha'drac saw the joints in Ravage's legs, and aimed his throw, pulling the pin.

In the nanoseconds before he knew no more, he felt something sharp slam into the back of his head.

Up in the darkened arches, Razid smiled in triumph as Ha'drac slumped forwards, the pen tip sized railgun shot having torn through his head like a hot knife and butter, he dropped the grenade beside him as he fell. Through his scope, he saw the men still fighting ravage. One of the Romulans, previously on guard, back-stepped quickly to fire at Ravage.

Then the incendiary grenade detonated beside Ha'drac's corpse.

The Romulan's screams from the burning shrapnel merely mixed with the sounds of battle around him. Through his scope, Razid knew that they were not going to save him when this was done. He took aim again, this time for a mercy killing.

The shot fired, and the Romulan's screams stopped as he slumped over, a hole in his head.

5 remained, and Ja'hail's team stormed into the fight now, firing rounds at the camp, avoiding the bomb itself.

Running to cover, the Black Ops team lost another male human to the fire, shot in the leg then the chest. In cover, the female Vulcan, now in command, quickly aimed from cover, firing off a burst of rifle fire.

Leaping aside, Ja'hail swore as he saw one of his male Kro'nogri fall, a particle shot nearly taking his leg off. Reaching out to pull him, suppressing fire from the others echoing in the tomb atrium, he reached the wounded mercenary.

He gripped the man's hand, but felt it go slack as the man's neck and back were shot.

Growling, Ja'hail leapt back to cover, yelling: "Get a grenade over there!"

The female Kro'nogri he hired obliged, and pulled the pin, throwing it hard, ducking just in time as a burst of fire tried to take her head off.

In cover, the Black Ops team scrambled away from the grenade as it landed parallel to their cover. Using his training, the Predator grabbed the grenade, and threw it hard right back at the team.

As he threw, a particle shot from above made him falter, as Laserbeak swooped in for the kill. The grenade soared, and the Predator was cut down by Laserbeak's particle cannons. The grenade landed between the covers, exploding without damage to anyone.

All of a sudden, the gunfire stopped from the other side. Taking advantage, the female Vulcan ordered her two men to keep firing, while she went into the tunnels to get a better position.

Running up, she remembered the tunnels, and climbed the steps. Breathing hard, she set her rifle to rapid fire, no longer burst fire. The gunfire sounds echoed less in the tunnels.

In one tunnel, she heard a shifting above her, and spun in reaction. A large shape fell on her from above, clad in an envirosuit, but this one sporting a tail and less upright body form. A Sril'sask.

Her rifle had been knocked away, and she rolled and punched the Sril'sask desperately, her Vulcan strength helping her. Snarling, Je'rol tried a headbutt, but she kicked him in the stomach, and scrambled from his grip.

Leaping up, she punched Je'rol twice in the face, gripping his envirosuit helmet on the second punch, and pulled him around. The spinning toss ripped the helmet from Je'rol's head, and he snarled in fury as he recovered.

Leaping for hr rifle, the female Vulcan was knocked back by a charging headbutt from Je'rol. He ripped his gloves off, and charged, his 3 clawed hands swiping the air. Ducking and weaving, she punched and jabbed at Je'rol's body, his under suit armour and natural pain resistance helping protect him. Furious, Je'rol spun, his tail catching the female Leg'hrul off guard, knocking her to the ground.

She landed beside her rifle, and grabbed it. An envirosuit clad foot slammed on top of her hand, nearly breaking it. Bending down, Je'rol struggled to pin the Vulcan beneath him, her free hand punching and jabbing nerve points, softened by his suit.

Bending down, Je'rol opened his mouth, but was stopped by her foot on his stomach and her hand on his neck. Pushing through the pain of her trying to strangle him with Vulcan strength, he growled, almost roared, as he finally felt his jaws encircle her neck.

With a yell he slammed his jaws shut, blood flowing from her neck. Her pain caused her to weaken her resisting attempts, and he bit harder, her vertebrate almost cracking. Her gurgles were the last signs of life. He kept his mouth over her neck, waiting for the last signs of life to leave.

Finally, after 20 seconds, she was dead. Groaning to stand, Je'rol slumped against the wall, tired from the ordeal. He wished he'd had time to use his pistol, just to end it more quickly. It wasn't as fun when he got bruised and banged up like this.

Looking at the female Vulcan's corpse, he saw exactly what they meant when they said Vulcans were strong.

In the catacombs, the two human men fought desperately, one of them having taken two particle rounds to the left arm.

Beside the wounded man, the other human male leapt to another piece of cover, the mercenary fire following him. The wounded Black Ops prepared a grenade, his last one, and pulled the pin.

Beside him, an envirosuit clad human had appeared from nowhere, and punched the man square in the jaw, grabbing the grenade from him. Seeing the other human male, Dominic Cortex threw it, the grenade landing behind cover with ease.

The grenade detonated, and the bloodstains on the wall where it exploded confirmed the death of the other man.

Turning, Alex saw the last man, groaning on the floor, particle shot burns on his left arm. The others came out of cover, relaxing from the accomplished mission.

Looking up, the last black ops man saw the human pull off the envirosuit, his bald head and piercing blue eyes glinting with pride. Groaning, the UIP operative groaned: "You won't get away with this, our superior will find out."

Dominic Cortez looked somewhat amused, and said: "He's only talking with you by text. Zoran won't know the difference." He placed a foot on the man's throat, and briefly looked over to the bomb and equipment.

Laserbeak had flown down to perch near the bomb, while Reedman had dissolved and returned to Ravage's throat compartment. Ja'hail's team were gathered around their casualty, disguising his wounds to look like an accident with an electrical wiring outburst.

Je'rol staggered out of a tunnel nearby, dragging the female Vulcan's body, her throat mutilated. Je'rol looked battered, but fine. Razid was last to join, examining Ha'drac's body for usable equipment.

Looking back to the last surviving man, Dominic applied much force, stomping on his neck, cracking and crushing the spine and windpipe with his disguised cyborg strength.

**2 Hours later.**

**Catacombs lower level, tomb atrium, former UIP black ops bomb camp.**

"Alright! Try now!"

At the shout from Ja'hail's lone female mercenary, Dominic flipped the switch on comm. booster. Immediately, it began to power up, showing on its holoscreen an established connection link directly with Zoran's UIP office, on a secure text only channel.

Back in the atrium, a hoarse, magnified voice shouted: "Alright, we're connected! We just wait for the signal raid now!"

With that reported done, Razid knelt by the bomb itself, with Laserbeak currently linked to the trigger computer feeds by link cables from his head. Seeming to spasm with the data, Laserbeak hissed:

"Uploading DNA verification keys at 30%. 40%."

Over by the generator and Replicator, Ja'hail directed his team: "We'll be returning to the surface, our job's done, and they'll suspect if we don't come up now. We have Mal'aruk's body, and an explanation for his death. Which is?" He quizzed his team:

"Electrical shock, unexpected accumulated charge from an outlet box." Said the female Kro'nogri, to which Ja'hail gave a brisk nod in confirmation.

Down beside the Replicator, Je'rol was on the radio to Moko'tel, and Soundwave, having synched the Replicator's object data banks to have any more required objects downloaded, such as human and Sril'sask rations, among other things, and Sril'sask antibiotics. The black ops team had stuff on code for humans, but not Je'rol.

Finally, Laserbeak finished, just as Ja'hail's team was leaving, having needed to make swift time to get back before the sewage company sent down authorities. Their delay was a good accompanying factor to pass off their one casualty.

The avian mech hissed: "DNA coding is set, now the only organics able to trigger the bomb are Predator male Moko'tel, Sril'sask male Je'rol, Human male Razid Akbular and Human male Dominic Cortez."

"**I read you Laserbeak. I'm making my way down now, I'm just about to enter the Catacombs from the sewer lines. I will be there in 20 minutes." **Moko'tel said over the radio.

At this, Ravage growled lowly, before beginning to stomp off, heading back up the tunnels also. The panther mech was no longer needed down in the Catacombs, and only Laserbeak would remain behind. With a quick pounce, Ravage bounded off back through the tombs, to head to the manhole cover.

20 minutes later, and Grindor had left the road intersection, now with Soundwave's sleek sports aerocar form parked directly on top of the manhole.

Unseen, segments folded back, as Ravage climbed up through the hole, merging with the underside compartment of Soundwave.

A few moments later, and the aerocar took off, no one suspecting anything.

Down below, the four organics and Laserbeak could do nothing more except wait for the war cabinet meeting, due in 15 days time, and the raid on the outer UIP colony of Gel'dren, the day before. On the day of the raid, as they saw in Zoran's few and far between, but specific instructions to the Black Ops team, they would reveal the bomb threat on that day.

There were instructions also to drop subtle hints about a UIP infiltration, but not enough to cause panic until days before the bomb threat announcement. To spread fear and unease in the capital was the goal, before strangulating the head of the main Alliance military leadership.

For now though, things were simple.

Looking around, Alex/Dominic noted off the list of items needed from the Replicator the Black Ops team had compiled:

"Reinforced wiring for the comms booster, local vermin chewing and disabling standard wiring, we'll get that first. 1 month's supplies of Sril'sask antibiotics, and spare components for synthetic energon converter to placate cybertronian escorts."

Punching in the codes, Razid looked at the device's production port, noting the flash and gradual appearance of the first item, a coil of thick, coiled wiring. Metal coating on the outside, with a plastic mid ring to protect from the inner superconductor current.

Elated by this device, still a marvel of engineering after centuries, Razid said: "We'll be fine down here then."

"Just remember we're in a tomb, literally camping beside an armed nuclear bomb." Je'rol noted dryly.

As each person went off to their own way to pass the time, Moko'tel wondered aloud casually: "Maybe that Replicator could get me equipment I need to make some of my custom chemical, medicines and toxins. They might come in handy."

Alex was curious now, as he had always heard of the weaponized chemicals that had ruined Moko'tel's life when one behaved in a delayed manner. He said to Moko'tel: "I'm going to put in a request for a Dark Matter manufacturer, so if it can do that, you're skills could be used."

"My gases were never fatal you realise." Moko'tel said.

"I never intended to use them to kill. We could use them to spread the panic we need for this bomb threat to work." Dominic stated.

"Get it replicated as soon as possible."

The bomb was set, the bomb holders and their Cybertronian allies were in position in Eru'lindi city, within the streets or deep below them.

All they needed to do was wait, and sow seeds of panic and unrest before they fully mobilized.

**The endgame is beginning, slowly but surely in my story.**

**Please read and review, and again constructive criticism is welcome.**

**Never work with BT internet if you can, they are hopeless, my reason for the delays in uploading.**


	36. Chapter 36

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 36: Seeds of Fear, final preparations.**

**4****th**** March 2902, **

**Tarihhis [Kro'nogri homeworld], Eru'lindi capital city.**

**Royal Palace**

Letting out a shallow sigh of aggravation, King Lo'rath placed the reports and documents aside on his desk, slumping back for a moment.

The King was having an off day, but this was merely a busy day of routine governance, war catered or otherwise. Signatures of approval on new low to mid level legislation passed by the Kro'nogri council to help combat the rise in organized crime, the decrease in hunting for the NKI in wake of their dispersal, tax reform and incentives for food production industrial sectors to help boost production, the list seemed endless.

Lo'rath was genuinely surprised that there weren't any reports concerning the Decepticon occupancy and fortifying of Konurich station, and the captured Dreadnought present there. Last time it was mentioned, his generals, including the Dreadnought project and fleet leader Kal'sik, had arranged Alliance system defences in a way that they could stave off any UIP attacks, almost certainly hold any captured systems in UIP territory, and keep the Decepticons trapped in Konurich station.

Idly Lo'rath's mind turned to Kal'sik. The man was devoted, and as loyal as they came to the crown, which was useful considering his family history.

He had been a part of a family strongly affiliated with the Kro'nogri nationalists, a renegade group of people devoted to bringing down what they saw as an Alliance with the Leg'hrul weakening the Kro'nogri people, claiming the Kro'nogri should dominate. One such branch had been responsible for a brutal attack on the palace, using a strain of Firaniosis to poison the entire Kro'nogri and Leg'hrul councils at the time, and killed Kro'nogri Queen Hei'reska, his mother.

In his father's terrifying crackdown on the nationalists following the attack, Kal'sik had come forwards from the group, pleading safety in exchange for identities. Because of his loyalist views, he had been abused in his childhood and cast aside by his family and their friends. He was taken in for questioning, and needless to say his parents and family were arrested, and executed soon after.

Kal'sik's loyalty strengthened when they saw his talent in school, and sponsored him through college, which helped him gain entry into a prestigious military academy. Eventually, in desperation to keep his service to the Alliance, Kal'sik had effectively given his life to the Alliance service, leading the Dreadnought raids, cracking down on UIP homeworlds and the NKI, more than making up for his failings at the pirating of 1 Dreadnought and the Varya incident. And his protégé, Ke'ranes, had destroyed a known NKI outpost at Solaris, killing Norstith, a known NKI officer.

Even so, Lo'rath saw little need to be concerned with Kal'sik. He was not attracting attention much, as he simply carried out duties as home system defence for now, allocating Dreadnought fleets to key sectors.

Lo'rath's main concern was about the upcoming military cabinet meeting, and what might be discussed concerning the future of the war. It had currently cooled down, the usual small scale raids being the only real action anywhere in both the UIP and Alliance territories.

Ever since the physical strike on King Rho'kis by his own hand, the Leg'hrul military had refused to help in any Dreadnought raids. Things had improved with the loss of Konurich station, and the temporary cessation of the Dreadnought raids until supplies were restocked across the entire militia. Still, Lo'rath was on less well terms with Rho'kis than previously. The elder Leg'hrul King had always held back, being patient and cautious his whole ruling life suiting him, but Lo'rath knew that because he had to assume the throne at 12, with help from councillors until he was 16, Rho'kis doubted his ability to rule.

Deciding to ease his mind, Lo'rath wandered out of his office.

**Kro'nogri Royal palace**

Walking about the gardens, Lo'rath inhaled the scent of the flowers and grasses in the bushes, relaxing him as he walked.

Beside him, a transparisteel wall revealed the world outside and below, Eru'lindi city.

The palace had always been perched atop a slight hill within the city's centre, and even with the high rising developments of over 600 metres, Lo'rath still could see activity in the city.

He saw aerocars and spacecraft flying to and fro in the air between and above the buildings, commuting passengers and cargo bound for the destinations.

Looking out, he noticed police aerocars heading for what looked like a fire, about 1 mile away, the firefighting aerotrucks already there.

_Brave warriors live outside the warzones. _Lo'rath held a great deal of respect for the firefighters of Eru'lindi city, as the local climate was hot and dry, prime conditions for a fire to start. All it took was a few sparks and flammable materials in a place.

In his office, Lo'rath heard the local news. The fire he had seen being suppressed in the distant city area had not been an accident. A fire bomb had been set off.

The building had been marked with the insignia of the ancient Kro'nogri Deity Kala'vos, God of Hunters.

This was the 2nd bombing in the past 6 days, and other insignias of the same type had been left at other sites around the city.

A virus hacking a local police station mainframe had shut down all security feeds and locked down the building for 20 hours, while it had projected the same Insignia of Kala'vos onto every screen in the building.

A maglev train had been bombed, the train not derailing but had come to a stop suddenly, damaging the track and cars. The insignia was found on the maglev cars harmed in the bombing, and were not there when it departed the original freight station.

They were obviously a terrorist cell, but it was curious that in all these attacks, nobody had died. The attacks had been timed and placed so that nobody was in harm's way, just witnesses to the incidents.

Public awareness and tension was high in wake of these rogue attacks, but nobody was coming forwards with evidence or ideas for their identity.

The most sinister feature of these attacks was what witnesses claimed to have seen at each and every site of an attack. A UIP race individual was always present minutes before the attack took place. A Sril'sask exiting a building, only to vanish in a nearby alley, a human perched atop a skyscraper ledge, only to be nowhere seen when searched for, and another human, a lighter skinned, hairless one, standing in the windows of one of the bombed buildings.

In the throne room, Lo'rath saw the sight of his Queen and Leg'hrul wife, Va'kara, urgently calling him over, their just now 7 year old Leg'hrul son Ara'kai standing beside his mother with a look of childlike worry on his beaked face.

Hurrying over, he saw his Queen, Leg'hrul son and a few assorted palace staff fixated on a news report on the holoscreen projection before them, breaking news brought to their attention by the Royal security branch.

"**-investigations are revealing that the gas used in this attack paralyses its victims and causes them to suffer panic inducing hallucinations while immobilized. No deaths have been reported, but of the people trapped inside the military spaceport warehouse, 45 of the 53 members trapped were exposed to enough gas toxin to suffer from the effects. Victims were rushed to hospital minutes after the warehouse was unlocked."**

"**The Warehouse itself was locked by a remote viral attack, sealing the entrances in all places. The projection of the insignia of Kala'vos, god of hunters, confirmed that the same terrorist group behind the bombings and viral controlled hostage situation at the city's police HQ were responsible for today's chemical based attack."**

"**What is different about this attack is the planting of a previously killed Kro'nogri body, confirmed as known illegal drug dealer Vol'kos Ma'kadar. The dealer's body was found inside the middle of the warehouse, but the ones who planted the body were not seen. Attached to the body was a written note in printed Kro'nogri standard language, but authorities have confiscated the note, denying us knowledge of its contents."**

Cutting off the feed, Lo'rath just noticed his head of security come in, a middle aged female Kro'nogri, who had a holoscreen pad for him. Taking it, Lo'rath saw an enlarged picture of the note mentioned in the news, but saw its contents.

_**If the royal family flees, or politicians try to flee the city, the attacks will begin to claim fatalities.**_

_**If the royal family and any politicians remain in the city, the attacks will remain non-fatal, and they themselves will be completely unharmed, and will not be abducted.**_

_**These attacks are the products of the greed, pride and lies that caused this war.**_

_**5 days remain, until the reign of the Hunter begins, and the ultimate trap is set.**_

**Later that evening.**

"No DNA was found on the note, but the Kro'nogri drug dealer placed at the scene had been dead for a week. The audio and camera feeds did find something though, but there was jamming from the virus in the system, leftover from the attack lockdown."

Tarihhis police commissioner Dure'kil spoke of the findings of his department to the King, who then looked at the footage the commissioner played from the military warehouse.

The footage was fast played, until it slowed to normal speed when a figure dropped down from the ceiling, a body-bag slung over its shoulder. As soon as the figure landed, it reached behind itself to press the release valve, activating the dispersal from two backpack sized gas cylinders it carried.

The gas poured out in a translucent vapour, and on other camera feeds guards inhaled or tried to flee, as they collapsed in minor spasms, some screams drowning in their paralysed throats.

The figure placed the body-bag on the ground briskly, opening its seals and smoothly pulling it off. Inside, the body of the Kro'nogri drug dealer Vol'kos Ma'kadar came to lie on the warehouse floor, having been killed just a day before.

Quickly the figure turned to the camera, revealing that he wore a transparent gas mask. It was a human male, with a hairless head, large muscular form, and by the cameras digital enhancement, recognizable blue eyes. The human wanted to be seen on footage, and with his work done, he climbed up some boxes, and disappeared from the camera feed views.

"He left the warehouse, but we couldn't find any trace of a human elsewhere." The commissioner explained calmly. Keeping his temper in check for now, Lo'rath asked in a restrained voice: "How did a human get to this world unnoticed? And do we know who he is?"

"No names, but he was identified as the same human male involved in a recent large robbery of the stock exchange in Vae'rakin's capital finance district 35 days ago." Dure'kil's steady tone betrayed no internal frustration or nerves he may have held before the King.

Queen Va'kara rhetorically asked: "But why here? The Vae'rakin stock exchange robbery seemed to be for money, but a military warehouse?"

"Fear in the masses perhaps? This was the first time someone's been killed, and they're afraid, with some groups beginning to leave the city out of fear." Commissioner Dure'kil. Being practical, Dure'kil asked: "We are trying out best to catch these terrorists, but I must ask. Do you wish to leave the capital for your safety?"

"No." Lo'rath's answer was very quick and blunt. Calming himself, Lo'rath stated: "These terrorists are openly opposing us, and the 5 day waiting period is only a day after my generals, admirals and councilmen are meeting here for the war committee 6 days from now. It is more than coincidence."

"Commissioner Dure'kil, I want you to use whatever means you can to bring this gang and the UIP races they have the gall to use as part of their activities, and issue tighter security around the military delegates and the committee activities itself. We can't bow to terrorists, ever. My father taught me that, and I won't bow to people who terrorize the masses, because they are no better than the group of people who killed my mother in what they fight for."

Aggravated, Lo'rath dismissed Dure'kil, the commissioner leaving with polite haste, but with inflections concerning the King's attitude towards this potential threat. In all honesty, Dure'kil saw no safer option than leaving the city.

With Commissioner Dure'kil gone, Lo'rath rewound the footage, freezing the video on the image of the human, the body already on the floor. The face stared at him, almost mocking him. A challenge to his rule, his ability to wage war for the vengeance of his people.

A feathery touch on his shoulder brought Lo'rath away from the video projection, as Queen Va'kara veered him to face her: "Lo'rath, maybe this isn't something to be taken lightly. In the very least, can you think about calling off the war meeting? I don't want you to make any more mistakes that could be avoided."

Beside her, Ara'kai shuffled on his talons, an uncertain whimper escaping the 7 year-old's beak. Thinking, Lo'rath considered things, and he knew that his Leg'hrul Queen was referring to when he lost his temper with Rho'kis refusing to support the Dreadnought raids. He thought for a moment, his mind replaying the video in his head.

"I'll wait until 2 days before the war meeting, or a day before this threat of attack is scheduled, and if nothing related to this group happens until then, we go forwards, but with extra security. If anything happens between now and then-" He placed a reassuring hand on Va'kara's beak side, stroking it in a soothing way: "I will call off the summit, and get us out secretly. If they begin to attack the city in any way, I'll call in a full campaign against them."

Still somewhat worried, Queen Va'kara sighed to herself. Pulling Ara'kai closer to her, she smiled at Lo'rath, saying: "I know you'll make the right choice. Just, don't forget what's important, for us and for the people."

**6****th**** March 2902, midday,**

**Tarihhis [Kro'nogri homeworld], Eru'lindi capital city.**

**Mar'kai central market plaza.**

A sleek patrol hover car, disguised without police markings, sat on the edge of the market road, repulsorlift vehicles and grounded hover vehicles doing 10 mph, stopping at pedestrian crossings to let market goers cross. The road itself was quiet, more of an alley road wedged between two large skyscrapers, exiting out into the main market plaza area. However, this disguised patrol car was alive, in its unique way, and not particularly thrilled with its predisposition.

Tyrania scowled inwards as she saw the Kro'nogri, and very few Leg'hrul, milling to and fro in the market, their complacency even among the war and decline in living standards in their city lost to them while they acquired their desired items.

Her grandfather's legacy, albeit with her being an illegitimate child, had made her study Megatron in detail to know the mech that disowned her now deceased mother. While she held little in relation to his hatred of organics to the point of wanting to destroy them, she held a prejudice against the superiority that organics sometimes felt, until they met an adversary beyond them.

What she shared with Megatron was the views he fought for before he became a warlord, or Lord High protector before the war. She shared his views of equality, and decreasing poverty by removing the corruption in the ruling classes, even if it meant removing the class altogether. She saw this issue with the Kro'nogri as a whole, with their council reinforced monarchy currently dictating over its subjects when it came to waging a self destructive war against the UIP.

A shifting in her hover car's seating brought Tyrania back to reality, as she turned her sensors inwards. In the seat, obscured from view by the opaque sleek canopy of her form, Razid observed the crowds with wary eyes through a currently magnified band visor. A virtual window display on the canopy of Tyrania's hover car form let him see out, without letting others see the human inside.

"**Where is the scum we're waiting on? They should have dropped the data off by now."** Tyrania muttered, her voice sounding in the dashboard speakers. Scowling internally, Razid replied in a patient tone: "The 'scum', as you say, will pass over the pedestrian crossing in front of us, and it should be any second now. It's a female Kro'nogri, wearing a dark blue and white lined set of robes. She'll drop the data packet from beneath her robes-"

"**And I immediately engage my sirens to fake being called off by police, and drive over the device to pick it up into my compartment as I drive over it. I know what to do fleshling, just keep an eye out for the woman."**

"I'm thankful to god that you don't take more after your grandfather. I'm already nervous working with you as it is." Razid commented, his annoyance with Tyrania's superiority obvious.

"**If I was more like Megatron, I would have crushed you before you could even get within 3 metres of me. The fact that I'm letting a sweat and pheromone oozing organic into my interior is already-there!" **Tyrania suddenly cut off at the exterior sight.

"I see her too, get ready." Razid dropped his binoculars, and strapped in.

Ahead, a Kro'nogri man carried his food, his rations allowed for the next 4 days, back to his apartment. In front of him, he suddenly noticed a blue robed Kro'nogri female, with white linings on the fabric, stumble slightly.

Before he could get a good look at what came from under her robes, a sudden blare of police sirens filled the alley road.

From seemingly nowhere, a disguised police hover car came through, the crowds and cars parting to let it pass. The man backed up, and just as he looked down, he saw something the size of a wallet, metallic, where the woman had stumbled.

The police patrol car passed by, and to the man's puzzlement, the object was no longer there.

He would dismiss it later as a figment of his mind.

**Mid Afternoon,**

**Tarihhis [Kro'nogri homeworld], Eru'lindi capital city.**

**Caba'han district.**

"What is it this guy does again?" Asked Je'rol.

Parked up in an alley, Barricade had transported Je'rol and Alex, now 'Dominic Cortez' to the 'red light' district of the city, or in the very least the most known. The alley was quiet, as it was not a hub of activity, secluded from the main roads, down a few levels from the lanes of 'adult oriented' businesses.

Barricade had slightly altered his hovercar's colours and removed any signs of police disguise, now just a plain black vehicle. Inside, Je'rol had asked the question to a shapeshifting Alex. The human cyborg coated himself in dark matter, taking the form of a bulky Kro'nogri male with dark green and yellow shaded scales.

"Kan'dras Mel'ken. Kae'tano gave us his contact details because he once worked with the Underworld Guild in mapping out the cities of many Alliance worlds, before the Alliance police cracked down and forced them to disband."

"And he still has some of that data? A 3D map of the entire city?"

"A highly detailed map, correct." Alex finished shifting form, while Barricade spoke over internal comms:

"**The second half of the data needed to map the city is already in our possession, just the first half of data and the activation code is needed. Kan'dras Mel'ken will pass these to you Dominic Cortez."**

Getting out the door, Dominic muttered: "This better be worth it in the long run. This place is a shithole."

Back inside, Je'rol reclined slightly, disappointed that he couldn't go in disguised because of his longer stature and tail. He'd seen some Kro'nogri women, and wanted to get to see the 'hidden' beauty in some of them.

After walking inside, and the thick waft of bodily fluids and drug produced smoke hit Alex's nostrils. Walking inside, he brushed by a scantily clad female Kro'nogri on her way out of a room, ignoring the interested look she gave his Kro'nogri disguise as he passed by.

Inside, he found the doorway blocked by a well built male Kro'nogri, trying to subtly hide a particle handgun under his jacket. Stopping before the doorman, Alex spoke in a gruff voice, made easier by the damage to his vocal chords. His translator converted his English into Kro'nogri dialect seamlessly.

"I'm here to see Kan'dras Mel'ken."

"Name?"

Alex disabled his translator, and spoke in English: "My name is Dominic Cortez."

The guard was slightly stunned by the English, but luckily, his boss had told him to wait for a Kro'nogri speaking English and using a human name.

"Go on in."

Without hesitation, Alex entered the room, and saw Kan'dras talking with another male Kro'nogri on the couch, watching a recording on the holo screen:

"Now there, see the angles of the shot, how they capture the shine of the scales in the dim light of the room. That's the way to shoot porn these days."

"Excellent, and you can be sure to get this on the data net for good profit, along with the others?" Asked Kan'dras.

"Absolutely, we get millions of views on these videos across the alliance, each one giving us a little amount of credits. But it quickly adds up."

"You've outdone yourself Ta'kai. The security crackdowns in this city have made operations more difficult, but your method will get us money we need."

"And since this is a legal business giving us financial support, we can get out other operations back on their feet."

Looking around, Kan'dras's face suddenly fell slightly at the sight of Alex's disguised form: "Alright Ta'kai, I'll endorse these vid deals, now get out of here. I've got some other business to deal with."

Vaguely surprised by the sudden change in tone, Ta'kai packed his equipment and files and promptly left. Turning to the new Kro'nogri, Kan'dras asked: "You Dominic Cortez?"

"Of course, otherwise your guard wouldn't have let me pass." Said Alex, once again and for the last time in English.

His eyes never leaving Dominic's form, Kan'dras reached into an opened desk drawer, pulling out a small data drive. Handing it over, he noted: "Security grid layouts, all but high level military codes for any access doors, and a hack module to track police and armed force garrison movements throughout the city."

Wordlessly, Alex took the device, while Kan'dras asked with healthy suspicion: "What's this data for anyway?"

"We're going to make some changes to this city, and this will help us. But you won't be harmed in any way, financial or otherwise, unless you interfere later, or rat us out."

Dominic Cortez said the facts clearly enough, and Kan'dras said no more.

Within minutes, the male Kro'nogri walked out of the office, datapad safely in his pocket.

Just before the door, the female Kro'nogri he had seen on the way in stepped out into the hall a bit, still clad in her overtly, purposefully revealing outfit. Her waist cocked sideways slightly and she slipped the fabric of her lower clothing down a bit, saying in a sensual tone of Kro'nogri dialect: "Now that business is done, maybe I can help release some of the stress of work?"

"How much are you charging?"

Taken aback by the blunt question, she regained composure and pressed herself up against Dominic, rubbing his back with her talons in a way that would soothe or arouse many Kro'nogri of any gender. To Alex, they came uncomfortably close to the scars given to him by another female Kro'nogri in Ral'craz prison, before his murder rampage in there the same day. She breathed into his ear hole: "250."

Not at all turned on, Alex's eyes quickly flicked to the side, seeing the same door guard from before watching with a hint of amusement. Obviously he took joy in seeing her tempt men into buying into the prostitute or porn business.

Quickly, Dominic grabbed the female Kro'nogri's hand, squeezing with enough force to make her wince in pain. Pulling it away, he smoothly returned the hand to her side, and let go. Turning to leave, he said in stern English: "No."

The female Kro'nogri watched the male leave, confused as to why he spoke English. Though the negative answer was clear, as negative tone was quite common among multiple races.

Looking back, she gave the doorman an inquiring look, but he couldn't offer an explanation. He had appeared and left, doing his business, and despite being the kind to come to a part of the city like this, he didn't at all behaving like a normal Kro'nogri male would among a tantalizing female offer.

Back outside, Barricade pulled away from the alley, driving out onto the main road. Inside, Alex just dropped the Kro'nogri disguise, rubbing his bald head, courtesy of his bald cap, and gave a sigh of relief.

"So it went well?" Asked Je'rol, still grumpy from having to sit watch with Barricade. Looking at the Sril'sask, Alex/Dominic looked out of Barricade's tinted windows, seeing the beginning of rush hour traffic forming on the main roads and airways. He said: "We have the final map data we need, no trouble at all. Just some eager prostitute on the way out."

"You were in and out quite fast." Je'rol said.

"Yes…Wait, No! I didn't take her offer." Dominic responded, surprised by the double-entendre in Je'rol's statement.

"You didn't? I knew you'd waste an opportunity if you went in and not me!" Je'rol replied.

"**With what will be carried out in 3 days Je'rol, you could have any submissive fleshling pleasure you for free if you wished, provided you state it as a sub-level condition of the deal to be administered." **

Thinking for a moment, Je'rol said: "Interesting point Barricade."

"We're not holding the city to ransom with one condition being free, unlimited sex." Dominic stated in a bored tone.

"What? They'll probably hate us for what we'll do, so it won't be any worse if we do that." Je'rol argued.

"Very well Je'rol. You get a harem, I'll get your portion of the glory of ending the war." Alex replied.

"I never said that human, I just don't see the point of wasting an opportunity. It helped me survive so long before, like in the gladiator pits of my kind's underworld fights."

Je'rol said casually.

"There's pragmatism, then there's opportunistic sadism. Guess which one I label you as?" Alex said, still bored.

"Pragmatic?" Je'rol asked, semi joking.

"Forget that, I'm labelling you an idiot now."

"You just can't see things from my perspective."

Still driving, Barricade muted his internal audio sensors, not wishing to hear the debate over little intricate demands while the bomb threat was carried out. He never understood how organics could spend so much of their mental capacity on the process and pleasures of the mating process. Sure there was sexual activity among Cybertronians, but it wasn't excessive.

Organics still revolted him at intervals, but at least they weren't primitive anymore, and could offer something useful to his race as a whole.

**Countdown to the finale story arc is nearly done.**

**Please review and read graciously or helpfully.**


	37. Chapter 37

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 37: Guillotine set, Crisis of Eru'lindi part 1.**

**9****th**** March 2902**

**Ki'ristalis, UIP Central Intelligence Bureau**

"Reports coming in from the Gel'dren offensive confirming that the planet's defensive fleet has suffered 27% losses, to 9% UIP losses. Ground attack forces have begun their descent to liberate the smaller towns."

The overhead announcements of general news from the recent war front occurrences served as a reminder to workers in the CIB to continue working diligently and efficiently, and the recent push to retake a large UIP border colony from the Alliance invaders proved a good way to regain public confidence in the war.

The atmosphere was a static optimism overall with the war. The Dreadnought raids had been called off for now, and the Decepticons had made the Alliance distracted from the UIP by fortifying the captured Konurich station with the NKI remnant fleet and its captured Dreadnought. The UIP had regained infrastructure in this more peaceful lapse in war, and the small, incremental regaining of territory was more hopeful than had previously been in the war.

In his main office, Zoran passively considered the events to follow. He had sent the message to his black ops team, and now all he had to do was wait for the bomb threat to be issued.

Looking out at the cityscape of Ki'ristalis, Zoran recalled the events behind his 'premature' ignition of the war, thinking of how he misjudged the Kro'nogri-Leg'hrul Alliance slightly. He had seen their warlike nature, the paranoia of their alliance against outsiders, their military potential, the cunning of the Leg'hrul and the aggression of the Kro'nogri. He had seen a threat, and his suspicions were confirmed by the killing of his fellow scout, a female Vulcan, in a racial riot on Konurich station, just 17 years ago.

It was then that he and Scout Hu'treck, his fellow Grey scout, had decided that an opening war with the Alliance was inevitable, and it was Zoran's, or Oro'naze's decision at the time, to make the first strike. They would cut all ties with the UIP officially, and go to ground with their identities, after they struck a capital blow to the more aggressive of the two races, the Kro'nogri.

By killing King Le'krio and framing Princess Sha'krii for regicide, they would emplace the younger, inexperienced prince Lo'rath at the top of the more aggressive side of the Alliance. The trauma would prompt him to attack sooner, when the Alliance had studied the UIP lesser.

In the time to plan the attack, Zoran had realized that going to ground would be difficult without the UIP, and knew that at some stage, the Alliance would contact the UIP in a warlike manner. At this shared search for a solution, it was Scout Hu'treck that found a solution to support themselves. The first stage was to give a 'peace' offering to companies in the Alliance by means of UIP tech, associated with weapons and technology. It was all outdated, but enough to prompt the companies to begin manufacturing a supply chain of weapons to counteract these supposed 'state-of-the-art' weapons of the UIP. Secondly, once the blow was struck, and the young prince driving the Alliance for war with his kind and influencing the honour bound Leg'hrul, these companies would manufacture heavily. A large portion of bought shares in these companies under false names would pay off once the Alliance contacted for war, and when sold off they would be off the hook. Zoran and Hu'treck would later use the money gained from this to invest in UIP weapons companies, further expanding their stock broking wealth. It was a theoretically solid plan to make money off a painful, but as the two saw at the time, necessary decision.

After this, Oro'naze and Hu'treck retreated to UIP space, associating with King Le'krio's death with Sha'krii, but in reality, they were no longer UIP. They parted ways soon after, assuming different roles. Hu'treck led a quiet life, gaining a sudden increase in wealth legally when the war started. Oro'naze changed his name to Zoran, and worked his way up through the Intelligence bureau office departments, learning the skills to cover his and Hu'treck's tracks.

Zoran and Hu'treck's scheme, albeit at Hu'treck's growing regret, showed one glaring flaw in its execution, which while rectified, prolonged the war. They had not anticipated the capacity for biding time for war that the Alliance demonstrated, as the retaliatory strike didn't come until 10 years after King Le'krio's death. While this meant their shares in military related companies in the Alliance gave them a greater return when they subtly cashed in, it meant that the ferocity of combat was greater, and already the Alliance had come close to critically striking the UIP with UIP leader Pedosk Viniril's assassination, the Varya raids and the Dreadnought campaign. It was in this more desperate war atmosphere that Zoran vowed to not let anything compromise his plan to end the war with his self intact, and both sides reaching a settlement. His previous 'life' would face the post mortem blame, and he would have ultimately humbled the Alliance with this war he prompted them into blindly waging.

To Zoran's deeply buried pain, Hu'treck's guilt over starting a war as a necessary evil in their eyes grew too dangerous. Zoran had to have his old friend killed, joining their other older friend, her death brutal at Konurich station 17 years before. He had framed Hu'treck's nephew for good measure.

For Zoran's scheme to end the war was actually bold, and would allow him to have a clean slate, and a boost of reputation. He had kept the records of Oro'naze's actions intact for one purpose only, omitting Hu'treck to save face. Making sure that he as Zoran was not implicated, Zoran would expose that Oro'naze was the true killer of Kro'nogri King Le'krio, and that Sha'krii had to assume the throne. He had made sure to kill all links to him being Oro'naze, though he was certain that some people knew. There was no evidence to support it in a courtroom or hearing, and maybe they would see this as his redemption or 'apology' for starting a war.

He would end the war with both sides intact, take a moderate amount of heat for the bomb plot if it was linked to him, and not be linked to Oro'naze. It was a plan nearly 2 decades in the making, and Zoran's masterpiece of his intellect, cunning and regretful actions.

How ironic it was that the unmasking of Oro'naze was being conceived at the same moment by an individual that knew exactly who he was.

**9****th**** March 2902**

**Tarihhis, Kro'nogri homeworld, Eru'lindi city.**

**Eru'lindi council building.**

Security was as tight as could be at the council building, armed guards, automated turrets and robotic units on standby, and even a handful of hover tanks and an attack aircraft stationed nearby.

The dignitaries had all arrived, and were inside the council building itself, formulating their cases and arguments for the next day's war meeting discussions. The lapse in activity along the UIP-Alliance border, the Decepticon-NKI occupied Konurich station and the offensive or defensive usage of the Dreadnoughts were most likely to be key topics.

Police commissioner Dure'kil rubbed his brow scales impatiently, the day surprisingly cool with a broken cloud cover blocking much of the blazing heat from the Tarihhis's star. He was one of a few higher members of the police that knew of the threat issued by the human, and the other UIP race members, responsible for the mostly non-fatal terrorist strikes bearing the mark of Kala'vos, Kronogri god of hunters. And today was the day the supposed reign of the hunter began.

While he believed little in what the threat literally said, Dure'kil knew that the fact that it was tied to the body of their one kill, a convicted drug dealer, planted at their last attack 5 days before, showed that a need for greater security was certain.

**Royal palace, observation level.**

Lo'rath passively gazed out at the cityscape, his mind wandering to the beckoning council meeting the next day being prepared by its delegates as he stood by.

The threat issued by the UIP terrorists was hard to ignore, but he was confident that the higher security would dissuade an attack, or stop one earlier.

While ruthless in warfare and headstrong, Lo'rath was not one to be caught unaware. He knew fully well of the public opinion of him as a warmonger and seeking vengeance against the UIP, and the suffering of the public with resources diverted to the militia were not helpful.

In the recent month however, the decrease in military activity had freed up resources to the public, if only marginally, but every bit helped. A people was less likely to grumble when their needs were more satisfied.

Still, he couldn't help but worry.

**Eru'lindi council building**

"_Positions set. Begin attack upon shot fired by Razid Akbular."_

The burst transmission was sent from Soundwave, posted 5 blocks away, to all Decepticons and UIP members involved in the city. All the recipients clicked a single burst transmission to confirm their positions.

To compensate, and using the replicator with Decepticon alterations, weaponry near cybertronian grade standard for their size had been manufactured and given to each organic member of the UIP races involved.

Moko'tel was still within the Catacombs, guarded by Ravage in the tombs itself, and with Barricade on the surface road above.

Je'rol and Grindor reported from 2 blocks from the Eru'lindi council building, a commercial shuttle with concealed weapons parked up on a commercial landing pad. Both were ready for combat, but on standby.

Razid Akbular was in a sniper position, his powerful cyber tech improved rifle trained on its target 3 miles away, arm exosuit segments steadying his aim. Laserbeak kept sentry beside him.

Stationed within the patrols of Alliance fighters, using their race's skill of disguise, the seeker trine, Starscream leading with Skywarp and Thundercracker, were the eyes in the sky, and served as backup and intimidation.

Finally, positioned within the plaza in front of the Eru'lindi council building, was Tyrania, disguised as a smaller patrol hovercar, and Blackout, an armed military shuttle. Inside Blackout, 'Dominic Cortez' was ready.

They all waited, for it was a bang that would start it all.

**Crack!**

It was that sound that chief Dure'kil would always associate with the beginning of the war's end. Seeing the young male Kro'nogri floored by a plasma shot in the shoulder, the pain and impact making him scream out as he fell, still conscious.

Even as screams of a sniper rose, a whirring in the background made Dure'kil spin to its source. To his horror, he saw one of the armoured vehicles turning its turret onto the other vehicles. With a charge, it fired.

The bluish white energy blast wave that came from the tank's cannon turret immediately showed that it was different, the heavy EMP blast ripping the tank off the ground like a toy, blasting it into the council building walls.

"All units mobilize! We have an infiltration!"

Dure'kil's screams into the police comms filled the air, as more rounds were fired off from both sides.

Screams came from elsewhere, as a sleek police patrol car took off, ramming a few Kro'nogri to the ground as it flew towards the council building's entrance doors. As it rose up the steps, a brief glimpse of deploying weapons from the car told Dure'kil what he needed to know.

These were not normal vehicles.

The sleek patrol car blasted the doorways, and smashed through without consideration. Anger in his blood, Dure'kil took off to rally his police.

Blackout fired on more police and military personnel and vehicles, backing up gradually to the hole blasted by Tyrania. His back door swung open, and with his vehicle's back imbedded in the building entrance, Dominic had a clear entry into the building.

Running out, the human tore off after Tyrania's path of destruction, yelling back: "Kill as few as possible! Vehicles and heavy weapons are priority!"

Blackout would have retorted to being reminded of orders by an organic, but an arrival of police reinforcements drew his attention to one of the connecting streets nearby.

Above these reinforcements though, an ally flew in. Grindor came to assist, landing in the plaza with great skill, weapons immediately firing upon the incoming patrol vehicles.

As an armoured police truck was flipped over by a heavy EMP wave, Durre'kil screamed out into comms and aloud:

"Fall back! We need reinforcements!"

As he spoke, the newer, armed commercial shuttle hovered just beside the landed military shuttle, and unseen, Je'rol leapt out and entered the council building, following the path left by Tyrania, catching up to Dominic.

At that point, a shape quickly flew down, and swiftly entered Grindor's cargo hold. As Blackout took off again, Laserbeak prepared the equipment inside, readying the drone software responsible for transporting the load.

**Catacombs, bomb chamber.**

Ravage patiently lay down upon the upper level archways, acting as a relay directly to Soundwave. Moko'tel ran through the procedures of the next phase, stating instructions to relay to Soundwave, to in turn relay to the others.

As he waited for the next stage of the attack to be reported successful, Moko'tel couldn't help but flick his gaze towards the thermonuclear device in the chamber, just 10 metres from where he was now, the repaired replicator and power generator nearby.

He just hoped that Zoran's plan, whose orders to the black ops team they were carrying out, would prove convincing.

Over the comms, Soundwave relayed the next order to all involved units:

"**Flight Commander Starscream, initiate attack on patrol and security vehicles, suppress all incoming reinforcements to the Parliament building, utilize seekers Thundercracker and Skywarp as deemed strategically best. Barricade, continue guarding sewage entry port. Remaining units continue as ordered."**

On the city outskirts, a trio of airbourne space fighters flew from the mountains, stealth drives hiding them from all but visual, plain eye sight.

"I just love the thrill of the hunt!" Screeched Starscream with glee, as he led his trine brothers to join the fray.

**Eru'lindi council building.**

Having dispatched numerous guards with cloaked strikes and gunfire, Dominic had detoured into a service hallway, locating a central server node. Pulling out the device Soundwave had provided, he placed it over the server port, activating it.

A floor above, Tyrania's actions in ravaging the building's security continued, and after only 4 minutes of being in the building, the security guards had been sensible to evacuate the dignitaries into a panic room within the outer edges of the building.

It was this routine that was to be exploited.

"Module in place Soundwave. Ready for lockdown."

"**Engaging hack, all entrances and exits to building to be imprinted to identities of those involved in all fronts of the attack, and hacking to be accessed only from inside building once system is isolated from city network. Hack completion time estimate: 1 minute. All entrances to be sealed immediately following completion."**

His work done, Dominic rushed off, cloaking with dark matter as he went.

As he became invisible, Dominic felt the familiar sense of power that the substance gave him, and the upcoming thrill of the hunt, at least while it was short lived.

The replicator they acquired was very helpful in manufacturing a specific dark matter synthesizer, and now supplies of the substance were a lesser concern.

Rounding a corner, Dominic was still invisible as a lone security Kro'nogri crossed his path. Not stopping, the cloaked human ran forwards, and with his cybernetic strength, rammed his shoulder into the guard, and as he let the guard fly, he swung his arm around, the new gauntlets around his arms electrocuting the guard's armour as he was smashed aside. The guard was unconscious, and had a few broken ribs, but would live.

Casualties were to be avoided if possible. Though in Tyrania's case, and other ex Decepticons, Dominic was not expecting complete compliance at all.

Around the next corner, Dominic saw Je'rol round a corner, and resisted the impulse to raise his weapons in defence at a sudden appearance. Running up to the Sril'sask, he ordered: "We find the panic room, and make our way there. If the lockdown gets us before we get near, its not a problem!"

No more was needed to be said, as the Human cyborg and Sril'sask Dark matter users took off.

In a large hallway, Tyrania casually mowed down the security guards before her with her neutron pulse cannon. The 15 foot femme then charged her plasma whips, and swung them sideways, sending a plasma charged wave slicing towards more security guards. The superheated wave incinerated the guards, while others cowered from her neutron pulses, disintegrating any organics it hit.

"Yes, tremble before me! FEAR ME!"

As she fired another burst, Tyrania stumbled from a strong hit on her armour, penetrating her shields. A high powered burst, and sure enough, her scans showed a mounted sniper rifle at the end of the hallway. Bracing an arm guard in front of her chest, she fired a rapid neutron pulse burst down the hallway, taking out the sniper.

Her processor then clicked a reminder:

**Building lockdown in 10 seconds.**

"Just when it was getting remotely fun." Tyrania commented to herself. Stepping backwards 10 metres, she held her ground with neutron pulses as the guards saw her slight retreat and foolishly advance.

Before they could mount any offensive, heavy duty doors slide from the walls and ceiling, criss-crossing to form a 1 metre thick wall of metal. Tyrania almost laughed as their faces became shocked at the sudden lockdown separating them.

All around the building, similar lockdowns of building sections occurred, isolating the guards from each other, and trapping the dignitaries in the panic room, and also isolating dignitaries and their escorts still headed to the panic rooms where they were.

Tyrania, Je'rol and Dominic were the only attackers in the building, but with the uplink from Soundwave's hack, they had clearance through the blast doors where they needed to be, and could communicate, using a channel that was the only one not blocked by the building now.

Outside, Starscream laughed cruelly as a patrol van wildly flipped over from a nearby missile he launched at it, imagining the state of the organics inside it. Looking around, Starscream saw Thundercracker transform mid flight, landing on an office roof, letting loose a volley of null ray fire into an incoming fleet of patrol cars, the EMP waves disabling any that weren't blown up.

It was then that Skywarp called on comms: **"The council building is locked down, they'll issue the threat and demands within the hour. We must get to the building and help guard it."**

"**Very well, go and clear a path Skywarp, while Thundercracker and myself finish off these helpless law enforcers."** Starscream ordered.

**10 minutes later.**

Just 30 minutes after the attack began, and most of the Cybertronians involved had met up at the Council building, with the exception of Barricade and Ravage, still guarding Moko'tel and the bomb.

Soundwave still kept his distance, now 2 blocks away, concealed in an alley in his sleek hovercar form.

Outside the building, to ensure that less firefights occurred, the Decepticons that were in robot mode saw fit to take a dozen hostages from the surviving police and military members, placing them at heavy gunpoint at the main entrance to the council building.

Trembling, a Kro'nogri soldier fearfully flicked his gaze upwards, seeing the cruel double gaze of Blackout and Thundercracker staring down at him for moving.

Grindor was still in vehicle mode, having acted to secretly transport Razid from his hiding place, and get him into the council building just before the lockdown occurred. Laserbeak had also entered the council building, leaving only the Seeker trio, Blackout and Grindor guarding the hostages out front.

Then, with everything in place, Soundwave broadcast the simple message to all Alliance security and military channels on the planet.

**Eru'lindi, Kro'nogri royal palace**

The royal family had been in the midst of evacuating, the transport organized, when the message came in, and the whole situation ground to a halt.

The message, and the details, brought Lo'rath's entire world to a halt, in disbelief of what had happened.

**For the attention of any and all Kro'nogri security and military personnel on planet Tarihhis**

**The council building of Eru'lindi is under lockdown. The Kro'nogri and Leg'hrul councillors of defence, finance, transport and intelligence are hostages in the building, along with any security or military personnel inside the building.**

**Attached to this message is information regarding the thermonuclear weapon hidden inside the city, and a video link confirming the weapon's presence.**

**The city of Eru'lindi is now under new jurisdiction, and the following protocols are to be followed.**

_**-All hostage government officials must remain inside Eru'lindi city's council building.**_

_**-The Kro'nogri royal family must remain inside the Royal Palace.**_

_**-All security and military forces are to not target the listed individuals, or any reinforcements that arrive to aide them.**_

_**-Civilians are to remain inside Eru'lindi city, with requests to leave the city to be processed through the channel provided with instructions for the request process. No unwarranted departure from the city is to be tolerated.**_

_**-Marshall law is declared, under the jurisdiction of the individuals listed prior, and any reinforcements that arrive to aide them.**_

**Any breaching of these conditions will result in detonation of the thermonuclear device, destroying anything caught within the 14 mile blast radius.**

**Further conditions will be announced in one local day cycle.**

**4 hours later**

The palace halls were quiet as Lo'rath walked through them, headed for a large window at the end of a hallway. Gazing out, he saw the sight of the city before him, seemingly peaceful, yet locked by the vicegrip of decepticon and rogue UIP member terrorists.

It didn't take long to confirm the data sent by the communications member of the rogue group, a mech called Soundwave. The bomb was genuine, as the readings provided by the terrorists were genuine. They were clever enough to not give away any details pertaining to its location, other than it being within the inner districts of the city.

With no councillors, Lo'rath was acting by his power of authority alone, though had almost immediately contacted King Rho'kis.

Further alarm was that the NKI were unaware of this attack, as their undercover leadership, presumably Kirth and La'kias if Lo'rath were to guess, had issued a statement of not knowing about the raid, even going so far as to slightly condemn it.

There were also reports that several Decepticon warships had broken off from the defence of Konurich station, and were headed to Tarihhis. Kal'sik had been watching the station with a Dreadnought fleet he personally had on standby, and his associate admiral Ke'ranes confirmed the crafts' trajectories.

There was worse on the way.

Queen Va'kara had become very disciplined in hiding emotions for the sake of politics, to the point where it became an art for her. And yet, seeing the Kro'nogri King, her husband and role-father of her child in such a catatonic state was unbearable.

Lo'rath was always stubborn, brash and impatient, but he had good intentions, and a strong sense of justice and justified vengeance and wrath. He had been thrust into a position of great power before he was ready, and had to quickly adapt to wage a war promised since his father's death.

And now it was all coming crashing down.

Her husband didn't notice her as she walked up beside him, her wing brushing his arm gently. She wanted to offer soothing words of comfort, or words of wisdom in this situation. But what could be said?

"How?"

The single word summed up Lo'rath's state, and it broke Va'kara's heart. How had this occurred, why and what could be done?

But she had to continue, and with a painful ache in her chest, she gently tugged Lo'rath from the palace window, away from the distant sight of the council building.

"There is always a way." Her words were vague, and held only a shred of confidence at this moment.

Wordlessly, Va'kara beckoned 7 year old Ara'kai to her side, the young Leg'hrul son of King Lo'rath joining his distraught but steadfast parents.

**The Endgame has begun, and the last story arc of the war.**

**Please read and review honestly and either kindly, or helpfully. **


	38. Chapter 38

**Dark Hunter's resolution.**

**Chapter 38: Crisis of Eru'lindi part 2, two-faced hope.**

**16****th**** March 2902**

**Ki'ristalis, apartment complex**

"_**-without any indication of releasing the hostages to the Alliance government anytime soon. Additional demands by the terrorist group called for the immediate cessation of hostilities from the Alliance, and to open up negotiations for an armistice with the UIP."**_

"_**Meanwhile the terrorist group has aligned itself with the Decepticon faction, while simultaneously inviting NKI members and forces to assist with the situation. There has been no announcement from neither the Kro'nogri leadership or the Leg'hrul leadership concerning the demands, while the city of Eru'lindi itself has seen an organized exodus by its normal citizens under authorization by the terrorists themselves, with an estimated 5% of the Kro'nogri capital's roughly 22 million citizens having evacuated, or an estimated 1,100,000 people, with the rate of exodus expected to rise in the coming weeks from those authorized to leave."**_

"_**In related news, all fronts of the Alliance war have stopped advancing, and are currently defending the territories they still hold, both former UIP or recovered Alliance territory. This correlates with one of the demands for cessation of hostilities by the NKI aligned terrorist cell, but the group is still pushing for a ceasefire treaty to be negotiated."**_

As the news turned to the detailed statistics, Trion turned the volume down on the holoscreen, silencing the room. A loud exhale of air from his cooling fans echoed, as the silver mech contemplated the news, and what it meant for him and his close comrades.

"This won't last."

Trion didn't need to turn to Sru'sky, who had heard everything from the other room. Walking over, the Na'vi female was wearing her standard casual clothing, a short sleeved, form fitting shirt with a tribal necklace, and with baggy, multiple pocketed trousers, and loose fitting casual shoes.

Looking at the much quieter news channel, Sru'sky said: "Even if the bomb they have stays hidden, the peace they'll get will probably only be temporary, and they'll be the first ones taken down."

"I was thinking it was a bluff or a fake bomb, until Kro'nogri and Decepticon reports stated otherwise. I can't believe a group is this desperate." Trion mused. With some scorn, he commented: "I can see the Decepticons getting behind something like this."

"It seems like it was a mistake to let them join the war." Sru'sky said.

"All the more since Tyrania herself is in the terrorist group in Eru'lindi city. A 2nd generation descendant of Megatron would agree to something like this, no uncertainty there."

**2 hours later, early evening**

Night had fallen on Ki'ristalis, and the Mech and Na'vi were watching a downloaded film on the vid screen, a high brow comedy based in human ancient times concerning the occupation of an old empire in a foreign nation of a radical faith system.

At that point, Quirinth came in, having been out the whole day running errands and having a day to herself.

"So I take it you guys know the news about the hostage crisis in Eru'lindi city?"

Both mech and Na'vi nodded, which led Quirinth to continue: "I was curious about the initial terrorist members, before others, Decpticons included, came to help control the city, so I looked them up. Some of them I can't find much on."

Beckoning her on, Quirinth placed a data pad on the table in front, engaging the holo display of the initial individuals:

"Soundwave, Laserbeak and Ravage are known, with Ravage directly guarding the bomb with one of the organics. The same goes for Blackout, Grindor, Barricade, Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp and Tyrania."

"The organics are a more mixed bunch though. The predator directly guarding the bomb is known as Moko'tel. He joined the KI after he was convicted of illegal medicine and chemical trials on sentient beings by the UIP. He was a leading designer on the dark matter program."

"Razid Akbular was once a UIP sniper, but freelanced and joined the KI voluntarily."

"Je'rol was a gladiator in the Sril'sask underground circuit, until he was captured by an Alliance raid on his world. He was drafted into the KI against his will."

"All three organics were enslaved to the Varya program, but escaped when it was hacked. They were all eventually imprisoned in Ral'craz prison, the highest security Alliance prison, before they escaped with help from the fourth organic, Dominic Cortez."

"What about this Cortez person?" Asked Sru'sky.

Mystified, Quirinth replied: "Nothing. I can't find anything on that human at all. He only showed up after he escaped Ral'craz prison, and that he was once a KI draft member, but there are no records of him, and yet he can use dark matter."

Musing for a moment, Trion wondered aloud: "Maybe Dominic Cortex is an alias for another former KI human."

"No, there is no visually similar human to Dominic Cortex that was in the KI, Varya slave or full member." Quirinth replied.

"A disguise maybe?" Sru'sky suggested.

"Whatever he is, he's one of the leading faces of the hostage crisis. Maybe he'll be exposed later in this situation." Trion wondered aloud.

Thinking for a moment, Quirinth pitched the overreaching question: "So if the war's likely to be paused for a while, what happens to our next tour of duty?"

**CIB central HQ, head offices.**

In the head office, Zoran quietly worked through the reports he had to file and approve for new operations and regulations with field agents and interrogation protocol.

In his mind though, Zoran was very pleased that the bomb threat had gone smoothly, even if the Alliance had yet to officially call a halt to combat for a temporary ceasefire.

At first the identities of the organics with the bomb threat surprised him, and made him suspicious, but the Black ops team leader had stated that additional help was drafted, and for them to act as scapegoats to draw blame away from the UIP government. The organics were all escapees from Ral'craz prison, and would be associated with the NKI.

So the risk of being associated with the bomb, despite in itself not detrimental to Zoran in the long run, had been reduced.

A buzz from his office door sounded, and Zoran quickly saw one of his executive agents at the door. Pressing the button to open the door, the executive walked in briskly, being a elder, stern faced Chinese human male.

"Chief Zoran, the summarized reports of the campaign warfronts in UIP sectors 34 through 83. In short, they seem to be reporting much decreased Alliance aggression in all areas."

Taking the data files, Zoran began skimming through them, asking without looking up at the man: "I'll bring this to the minister of intelligence councillors for their next meeting in 2 days. I'll also need records of certain UIP individuals brought to me, I've sent the names and to your office messages. You're dismissed."

Nodding, the man left, Zoran thanking fate that he had a skilled set of executives to draw on.

But still, just to play it safe, Zoran wanted to know precisely whom his black ops team had assigned as scapegoats.

**21****st**** March 2902,**

**Tarihhis, Eru'lindi city, Council building.**

**Day 12 of city bomb crisis.**

Sat inside the hallways, Kro'nogri councillor Verekan cursed the wall he stared at now, the blast doors mocking him.

He had come here to rally other councillors against further, newer campaigns in the war, trying to benefit the suffering Alliance people by playing to the desire for a temporary lull in combat to recover some cost.

For too long the cutbacks in education, health and even food production acquisitions had caused civilians to struggle, and Verekan had been afraid that at some stage, something extreme would be done to try and end the war.

He just never anticipated this level of extremity, nor the location being the Kro'nogri homeworld.

For 10 days now, he had been trapped in this section of the council building. The Decepticons and UIP 'keepers' had hacked the building's security very well, shutting blast doors and emergency exits in a way that fenced them inside certain building sectors like animals, while leaving some paths open through the building for those keeping them hostage.

The only time the blast doors lifted was to allow a sealed building sector to gather resources they had been given by their 'keepers', including food, water and other essentials. The blast doors were calculated and used in places where nobody met anyone else from other sealed sections, not even the 'feeding' opening sectors meeting one another.

Idly, Verekan looked back down the hallway, hearing the low conversations between others captured in the same sector as him going on in smaller board rooms. If there was one thing that surprised Verekan, it was that their capturers had given them any belongings from their lodgings on the planet for their stay duration in the building, having taken it and delivered it to them via the same 'resources' as their resources on the first day.

It was a ploy though, to placate them somewhat, a tactic revolving around the ancient wisdom of a rebellion never happening within a placated population. But it was a placation tactic that Verekan had to accept, as it meant he had a few changes of clothes and some personal items, despite having no freedom.

The broadcasts they were allowed to view, which were one way hologram feeds, showed a grim, tense mood in the outside world. The city was being gradually emptied, many getting authorized to leave by the Decpticons and UIP rogues. NKI members invited to the planet to assist often turned down or condemned the actions, ands similarly condemned those NKI personnel and resources that came to help.

King Lo'rath had been calling off more and more offensive military campaigns, having had to take much control of the war command from home with many of his leadership under captivity, while the UIP had formally declared it would be open to ceasefire negotiations if all offensive campaigns, defensive campaigns aside, were stopped. And it seemed that without much choice, Lo'rath was cooperating fast.

And yet, the anti-war Kro'nogri councillor couldn't celebrate this approaching end to hostilities, for obvious reasons personified by the blast doors that imprisoned him and his similarly opinionated councillors and civil servants.

With another deep sigh, Verekan unsheathed one of his claws, and scratched another short notch into the metal blast door, enough to show up as a marking.

"Day 10, and still counting."

Walking away, Verekan barely paid attention to the other nine notches beside the new one on the door's metal. All he could think was of how many notches until their release or their incineration in nuclear fire.

**22****nd**** March 2902**

**Tarihhis, Eru'lindi city, Ha'rai district.**

Tyrania silently drove through the abandoned city streets, her sleek sports hover car form hugging the road in a cruise mode.

The Ha'rai district, once a thriving arcology farm skyscraper district, now had a tense atmosphere. At every turn she took, the femme saw shut windows and seemingly abandoned buildings all around her.

But her sensors told her otherwise. The citizens had hidden away inside the arcology skyscrapers, the artificial food stuffs sustaining them. And with 40% of the district's population gone, or 1% of the city's total 48 million people, in under two weeks, derelict belongings and even some vehicles lay abandoned in the streets and on the paths. For the 60% of the district that stayed, or 288,000 people approximately, it meant more resources for them, and with more getting clearance to leave still.

And yet Tyrania was watchful, but only observing, as districts like these fell prey to scavenging behaviour among the citizens choosing to stay. Opportunistic citizens, those who were fiercely and blindly loyal to the Kro'nogri crown, and those that sought to bask in the supposed glory of anarchy among the bomb threat. The rest, and majority, simply wouldn't or couldn't leave, or were too attached to their home city and the lives they built to leave.

To the Decepticon femme, it was a showcase of the weaknesses and illogical functions of organics all rolled into one, though with some merit of admirable morality to it that Tyrania herself couldn't deny.

She drove through the streets slowly, her sensors detecting eyes flicking towards her form on the abandoned streets, as her form slowly cruised along between parked hover vehicles either parked or abandoned in the initial frenzy to try and escape in the first 2 days of the bomb threat. Those who stayed knew perfectly well that one of the Decepticons acting as a hostage 'manager' had the disguise of a sleek sports vehicle like the one passing by.

Stopping on the side of a street, Tyrania's sensors detected activity in the alley alcove beneath an overhanging arcology skyfarm building. Engaging a holo drone, Tyrania remotely piloted the snooker ball sized drone in the air, flying briskly through the alley.

Coming around the corner, Tyrania had the drone hug the wall and ceiling like an insect, and her drone's sensors showed the activity in question.

A Kro'nogri man had thrown his young adult daughter against a wall, exclaiming in anger: _"You shouldn't have gone there! They would have killed you if they saw you a second time!"_

"_Mother needs the medicine! What good is the food we have when she can't stomach it? I thought I could go in leave some food in exchange, and take the medicine, make an exchange without having to go through them."_

"_Those thugs will have another reason to come after our food now! They're more armed than us, especially since the Underworld Guild made the arms deal with them! You will never go to their territory again!"_

The girl quivered sadly, huddled against the steel alley wall in fear and regret. The father's anger began to dissipate slightly, reigning himself in: _"Come inside. What's done is done, and at least the medicine you got will help your mother."_

Slowly, the girl rose, and allowed her father to pull her into a doorway, near the alley: _"Father, I'm-"_

"_We'll say no more about this. I made my point, and you must learn, and you are safe still. Now your mother is waiting."_

As the father and daughter departed into the doorway, Tyrania summoned the drone back to her.

To herself, as she drove off to continue her patrol, the Decepticon femme scanned reports of growing gang activity and criminal activity in the city since the bomb threat. As predicted, it had risen greatly, after a sharp decline in the days following the bomb threat's issuing.

However, Tyrania made sure to relay information about the Underworld Guild's involvement to the others for reference. It was not part of the plan, but it didn't interfere, yet.

She reasoned that there was a logical step in keeping a watchful optic upon them.

**25****th**** March 2902**

**Tarihhis, Eru'lindi city, Catacomb bomb site.**

Gauging the readouts on the reports he had, Alex almost hissed in aggravation at the numbers he saw.

The Alliance was still deliberating whether to cooperate, and while the offensive raids had stopped, they were still holding onto captured territory as much as possible. However, reports from Soundwave and his underlings Laserbeak and Ravage showed strong indications that they would accept terms before the month's end.

However, the growing rate of internal crime was becoming an issue. The civilians that had remained had unbelievably begun to grow used to the bomb threat to the point where the exodus of the city had reached just 20% of the city's massive 22 million population, leaving 17.6 million people in the city still, after a full 16 days of occupation. Most of them simply wouldn't leave in the face of a terrorist and abandon their homes, while approximately 1 million were loyalists to the captured government, staying to possibly show support in this crisis.

Despite the almost guaranteed succumbing of the government by the month's end, Alex fully well didn't want the civilians to be harmed. He had seen footage provided by various patrols and even allowed news network recordings of the criminal activity taking place, a sizable chunk of it Underworld Guild activity. He had made part of the plan to allow the Underworld Guild permission to ship a black market into the city for the duration of the threat, to help support it. And it seemed that those groups believed that the threat, and the control Alex and his cohorts/underlings exuded over the city didn't apply to them.

That wouldn't be tolerated.

Kae'tano had already been contacted, and he stated, and confirmed by analysis from Decepticon intelligence, that he was not encouraging this behaviour, including hiking prices up, 'requisitioning' possessions in exchange for food, and sacking buildings and homes as payment when they couldn't be normally compensated. People in Kae'tano's position were only the suppliers. The problem lay with the distributors.

Walking from the console, Alex made up his mind, an idea fabricating in his mind as he input commands into the replicator machine. Watching, Moko'tel simply said: "I still don't see the point in worrying about the civilians. They're under a bomb threat, and I think some organized crime won't hurt them too badly in the long run."

"Care to say that to the families whose homes were sacked, family members killed and lives ruined? We've only disrupted their lives with this. They're flat out destroying lives."

The Predator scientist simply shrugged, continuing his work on his holo display screen. "What do you plan to do?"

"Put them in line, fight on their level."

Tyrania's voice rasped out from the side of the room, chuckling at this plan: "They'll learn to fear their captors even more that way. I would like it if it didn't seem so ill thought out."

"I plan to assume a different identity while fighting them, and I plan to get the problem sorted before this whole bomb threat comes to fruition with a UIP agreement meeting on this planet. I want to avoid associating myself with this group while I do this."

Moko'tel thought for a moment, looking up from his formula work: "A two faced tactic. Assume an identity not affiliated with us, whom we either disassociate with or declare our disapproval of, and quell the organized crime issue. It might alleviate the civilians more. Galactic history shows that civilians cooperate more with a source of hope to look up to."

"False hope to subdue them and make our job easier. Exactly right Moko'tel." Alex responded.

"In the meantime, if you wish to continue this endeavour, and in the event that things turn for the worse when this plan comes into play, you may want to equip yourself better." Moko'tel suggested.

Looking at the Replicator, Alex immediately had a few ideas of what 'toys' he could use to better arm himself overall.

**26****th**** March 2902, late night**

**Tarihhis, Eru'lindi city, Palace.**

It was a common sight now for Lo'rath, the unnaturally calm, subdued view of the city below and before his view from the balcony.

His mind was a labyrinth of concerns and fears now, and his options were narrowing fast. It had been 17 days since the bomb threat had been issued, and such short time had truly taken its toll.

Walking back, Lo'rath checked his messages remotely, seeing a flood of usual recommendations and news from the war fronts and those politicians not imprisoned within the council building. He could now rely mainly on his civil services, and a few politicians and dignitaries that were offworld when the bomb threat was issued.

Only a few messages stood out, including a few from high ranking admirals and generals. In such a short time, Lo'rath had come to realize that many of his more experienced military leaders showed more brains than a few of his councilmen, and certainly more patience, but also more subservience.

Many of the messages were long and detailed, though a few included small, summarized messages within them, for skimming view only. Two such messages came from Leg'hrul admiral Ke'ranes, and another from Kro'nogri Dreadnought Admiral Kal'sik.

Ke'ranes was adamant in encouraging Lo'rath to not stand down in the face of these terrorists, and to hold out for as long as he could with the lenient conditions they were strangely enforcing. A game of patience, and showing the Alliance to not back down, and to draw on the support of the people witnessing from outside.

Kal'sik, to Lo'rath's surprise, recommended accepting their demands, at least temporarily, and draw them out, making sure to diffuse the bomb situation first and foremost. The iconic, ruthless dreadnought operation Grand Admiral was proposing the pacifist route, claiming the lives of millions were worth suspending the war. And at the moment the bomb threat was gone, destroy the infiltrators, disarm and destroy their nuclear device, and resume the war with renewed strength in overcoming such a threat.

Coming to his office, Lo'rath sat down, his eyes quickly glancing over old family pictures he had placed on the wall shelves nearby. His parents and himself in a picture, and if one looked closely, an edited part of the picture where a fourth member of the royal family was once.

The other picture that caught his eye was his own direct family. His Leg'hrul son, Ara'kai, beak open in amusement as the picture was taken, with Queen Va'kara's wing placed on his back, a small glint of happiness in her eyes captured by the picture. Beside them, a younger Lo'rath, having waged only 3 years of war, happily smiled with his Leg'hrul representative family.

It had been a subject of much debate before the war, of Lo'rath getting a Kro'nogri heir at some stage, and by legitimate means, while still maintaining the poliically strengthening marriage between himself and Va'kara. In wake of the war though, such concerns became backseat, and Lo'rath had himself become attached to his Leg'hrul wife, queen, and his son and prince.

It was that care, and fear of losing them, that guided Lo'rath's actions in the next 2 days.

**27****th**** March 2902**

**Vae'rakin, Leg'hrul homeworld, Hre'dralk prison**

5 and a half months in prison had done little for Sha'krii's benefit, physically or mentally.

For the second time since she had been imprisoned, Rho'kis gazed through the two way mirror with some degree of pain at the state of someone he once loved. Her scales were unhealthy, pale and sickly in colour, far from their once bright green and yellow, and her eye sockets had sunken deeper into her skull. Her hand and foot claws were long, but trimmed, as the guards were careful to blunt the ends, and her bones protruded from her skin even more, the muscles having wasted away significantly in her imprisonment.

He had asked, and they had said that she enter a sort of aimless state of mind after 3 months, eating only the bare essentials, to the point where she began to starve, prompting the guards to begin force feeding her. Eventually, she entered a zombie like state, carrying out only the basic functions, exercising little anymore.

She also could be heard talking to herself at night, though by her appearance, she wasn't sleeping much.

It was a call from Lo'rath, the day before, that prompted Rho'kis to come here. Initially he wanted to send some guards or interrogators, which he did. Unfortunately the only words Sha'krii spoke were his own name, and only once saying for him to come in person, saying she would answer only to him.

And so he was here, carrying out what Lo'rath had said was one of two things he had to do before he made his decision concerning the bomb.

Pressing the intercom, Rho'kis spoke, the guards nearby watching for anything that might harm the king: "Ms. He'rensk. I'm here to ask you some questions."

"You were quick to respond. Were you that eager to see me after so long?" She still faced the wall, as she wouldn't bother facing a person who could see her, but not the opposite.

"I'm here to ask about the operation carried out on Tarihhis 18 days ago."

Sha'krii remained quiet, prompting Rho'kis to continue: "Eru'lindi city was seized in a terrorist threat, the entire council membership on planet captured inside the council building with a lockdown. The group is combined from Decepticon Cybertronians, and rogue members of 3 various UIP races, one of whom was a key member in a stock market raid on this planet just a few weeks before that. They have invited the NKI to join them, holding the city as a hostage, threatening to detonate the bomb, killing millions of civilians still there, and the council and royal family, unless the Alliance signs a ceasefire agreement with the UIP."

"Eru'lindi city? My brother captured?" Sha'krii spoke, the harsh edge of her voice gone.

"You know something, don't you?" Rho'kis pressed. Sha'krii knew she was on a lie detector system, and with all aggression gone in wake of the news, she said:

"I would never give an order for such an attack, whether in prison or free to lead the NKI."

Before Rho'kis could respond, Sha'krii got up, and Rho'kis saw her stumble a bit, her starved body struggling with fatigue and an artificial leg of basic design: "You know I'd never give such an order, your highness. So why ask me? Is my brother still pushing you around even when pressed into a corner and into a fire? Have you lost your courage and common sense that you submit to an order that is pointless to give? You once loved me, and I thought you'd know me because of that."

Scowling that this subject had come up again, Rho'kis spat out the words: "Even not guilty of organizing a bomb threat, you're still guilty of betrayal of the most heinous kind, of your people, and your family. I'm simply cooperating with the one member of your family still alive with any shred of honour, while you align with terrorists, synthetics and outcasts to fuel your ambitions to give yourself a false pardon!"

Sha'krii was stunned to hear such words, and she backed up until she sat down on her bed. It was a magnified pain when heard by a formless voice.

With a surging anger she didn't know she still had, she said with venom laced words: "If I was free, I would be in Eru'lindi city, hunting down those terrorists myself, desecrating the cause I made my own with their association to it. And to you Rho'kis, I hold you and my brother in nearly as little respect."

No more words were exchanged. No more needed to be.

**Exams are time consuming.**

**Please read, and review kindly and criticise constructively.**


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